Factory Farm, Malaysia.

Got interested in in-door farming

Definition of factory farm
:  a large industrialized farm; especially :  a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost.

Did some research on the internet and am wondering if this can be done in Malaysia with minimal set-up cost? Will this be sustainable? This could be a feasible future project.

There is major development in LED technology and grow light is getting lower. Even the electronic giants are into this. Panasonic Asia Pacific is into this.

A factory farm shall most probably operate in a clean environment similar to a clean room, temperature, humidity and CO2 levels are monitored and controlled, ensuring stable, high-quality production throughout the year.

Following the production process, the plants shall be process for planting in a module/pallet , after which shall be transfer to the warehouse area where the module can be stacked (high volume)  for storage.

Module shall be color coded according to the variety of plant and can be customize for specific plants. Shall have connections of inputs for nutrient, power and output for nutrient. An alarm (light) shall be incorporated. Module shall sit out the incubation time in the warehouse assigned locations. Alarm shall light a day before due day (harvest) and then shall be retrieved and transfer to harvesting area.

Targeting premium markets, with high value products, where food security is the utmost importance.

High value plants: fresh herbs, plants with medicinal properties, mushrooms & etc. We can also plants that need security like cannabis. Pesticide free edible plants & fruits can also be considered.

Am already excited by just thinking of this.

Hi, long time no see.

It’s been a while since I had updated my blog. Had to take leave from our farm since July 2015. So where had I been? Due to the extremely low price of rubber, I had to go look for a job to tie me over as my funds had ran out. I went back to Kuala Lumpur and had a busy time looking for a job. Job opportunity for me is rather limited, due to my profile & age. Went for a couple of interviews and was quick to find out that young interviewers normally had some prejudices against me. I was even given a lecture on doing poultry & aquaculture by an interviewer. 

 2016. Managed to secure a job in the field of business software, thank you. Start off in January. It is a big challenge for me. Starting all over again, change my mind set, getting use to new routes to the office, office culture and be on time. I was even told to change my dressing style, to look more like an IT person. Learn and read up a lot of in this field. Just like someone fresh from college.  Had the opportunity to learn about logistics, warehouse management, supply chain & etc.
MAHA 2016. Drop in for a visit on the 10^th December 2016. Found a couple of interesting things that I would like to share from MARDI. These are not new innovation, but interesting, can be DIY and scale up.

A local development by TaniMac, Seeder X. My opinion is that the concept is good for high volume of seeding. It's basically a vacuum powered suction, holding the seeds and then releasing the seeds with vacuum off, by gravity the seeds falling into the tray. Here is a video on Tray Seeder X.

I guess we can DIY for a more customized solution. The concept is pretty simple. Customized to the exact tray size for higher productivity.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w14foYnDsAw

 Planting mat. I can think of many uses for this. We can use this to seed grass and then offer as an instant grass carpet. Can also be used in slope control, Mulch, weed control & etc.

We can add value by impregnating the mat with various additives for more uses.

Hydro Pot, a system to save watering time, storing water in the pot and can refill manually or automatically. It is a much simpler method, mostly using gravity & evaporation.

Vertical Hydroponic, simple & efficient. I was searching for Hydroponic and Marijuana came up. We can scale up this model and I think by introducing air into the system, we can bring up the efficiency. An Aeroponic or Fogponic.

The material for this project are mostly off the shelve, thus lowering the set up cost.

I had always been looking for an inter crop under rubber plantation. Some of the factors should be reasonable price, readily available market, least disease prone, no obstruction to the rubber trees & etc. I still had not find any crops that I can plant under our rubber trees.

Again, concept is good, recycling. I guess logistic shall pose an issue and logistic & deployment cost may not be justifiable.

The pressure syringe caught me eyes. Not only can it do inoculation for  Gaharu, we can use it to treat trees.

Yes, I had read about air pruning of roots and it's benefits.

Micro propagation of pineapple. I wonder if the concept is similar to banana.

This is most welcome,as I remembered while I was planting papaya, the shelve life is only about a week. If we can prolong it, we can sell further, expanding the market.

2017. Am planning to get back into the agriculture industry. Hopefully I can secure a job related to farming/ plantation. Maybe have some time of going back to our farm for a visit and make new strategy for the fruit trees. Rubber prices had consolidated slightly now and hopefully can strengthen further in 2017. Hope to spend some time writing for my blog and FB. In FB we have Avocados Lovers Malaysia and Avocado & Fig Wholesale.

Shall be starting off 2017 with shifting house, go on a vacation and find a job in Agriculture.