丂The Advanced Plant Factory (APF) research facility of Tokyo University
of Agriculture and Technology was founded in 2009, with financial support
provided by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan.
It has been focused on life-cycle acceleration studies of fruit trees for
developing year-round high-yielding quality fruit production systems.
丂The blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) have become the primary targets due to
good farm-gate value and seasonal scarcity of the berries in Japan. While
studying environmental control, integrated use of sunlight and artificial
lights, life-cycle adjustment, systematization of tree health management,
functional component management, work automation, etc., the APF offers
trainings to disseminate the novel technologies that realize year-round
fresh fruit supply with low environmental load.