Greenphyto is a fully automated hydroponic farm, powered by artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing bots. - ST
SINGAPORE: Gleaming structures rise over 23m above ground and leaves peek out of several racks in the world’s tallest indoor vertical farm that was unveiled here on Wednesday (Jan 7).
Greenphyto, located in the Jurong West industrial area, is a 14-year vision in the making.
The fully automated hydroponic farm is powered by artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing bots.
Shoppers who buy locally grown produce at supermarkets may be familiar with the farm’s kailan and lettuce that are sold at 95 stores, including Fairprice and Sheng Siong supermarkets, since early 2025 under the Hydrogreens brand.
A 200g pack of Greenphyto’s kailan costs S$3.95. A 100g pack of leaf lettuce, marketed as Mambo Lettuce, costs $3.20. The farm also produces Japanese chye sim, baby spinach and arugula, among other greens.
The $80 million five-storey building occupies 2ha of land and can produce 2,000 tonnes of greens a year at full capacity. Production is currently at 200 tonnes.
With 69 patents behind innovations that help to optimise crop growth and minimise costs, the farm is powered by AI, robotics and automation technologies.
The official opening of the farm, which was attended by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, comes at a time when the prospects of some vertical farms, here and globally, have been looking grim for a while.
Over the past few years, local farms have been plagued with a series of setbacks, from declining production to closures. In November 2025, it was revealed that agri-tech farm Growy Singapore was winding up and in liquidation less than a year after its official opening.
Separately, VertiVegies abandoned its plans to build an indoor vertical farm around 2022 and I.F.F.I shut down its 38,000sq m facility.
The challenges affecting high-tech vertical farms include high capital and energy costs, supply chain breakdowns following the Covid-19 pandemic, and weakened investor confidence.
Singapore in late 2025 also dropped its “30 by 30” local farming goal and replaced it with new targets for fibre and protein production by 2035.
On what makes Greenphyto confident that it can buck the trend, its founder, Susan Chong, said: “(The farm closures) made me more determined to make it happen and do it differently, and learn from the issues faced by other farms on what is not working, and to make sure that we are well covered.”
Her focus is on using technology and innovations as an enabler to make the vegetables cost-efficient and of better quality than imports.
“Farms in the US, for example, are very focused on the tech. At the end of the day, your produce is your product. If you don’t have good-quality produce, what good is your tech?” she said.
High energy costs have been hurting the profitability of indoor farms, but Greenphyto managed to leverage its research and development to reduce its energy use by 30 per cent.
For one, the farm worked with a vendor to create LED lights that consume less energy. And instead of shining the same amount of light at all crops, which wastes electricity, the level of lighting can be adjusted for each batch of seedlings and full-fledged veggies.
To avoid wasting harvests, the farm works on a make-to-order basis, where vegetables are grown only after orders are secured by retailers, including FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Japanese supermarket chain Meidi-Ya and a couple of Far East Flora outlets.
“In business, no customer will give you any guarantee or any assurance, but you have to make it happen by producing good quality produce, and producing something that the consumers want,” said Chong.
Her venture into local farming began in 2011 when she set up a hydroponic system in Greenpac, a company she founded that specialises in sustainable packaging.
The company donated the vegetables to the community, including at Taman Jurong’s Meet-the-People sessions.
Back then, President Tharman was MP of the Taman Jurong division, and he contacted Chong.
“He said: ‘Why don’t you donate the system instead of donating the vegetables?’ He had a vision,” recalled Chong.
After donating several hydroponic systems to a community garden in Taman Jurong and a couple of schools, she was adept at teaching people – young and old – how to grow vegetables.
“One day, I just thought: I think I know how to automate the entire process,” she said.
In 2014, Chong registered Greenphyto and later sold Greenpac to focus on her agri-tech venture.
At the heart of Greenphyto are five unmanned chambers, with each room housing two 118m-long hydroponic towers 23.3m high. Running through the middle of the twin towers is a purple crane-like bot that monitors the crops, collects the seedling tray from next door and places them on each rack.
In most hydroponic farms, the water and nutrients circulate through vertical systems. But Greenphyto’s towers were adopted from warehouses in the supply chain industry, where Chong spent the bulk of her career. The stacking approach allowed the hydroponic tower to exceed 23m.
Each tower is stacked with more than 500 racks with LED lights shining overhead, and each tray is filled with a different formula of nutrients to support each crop’s stage of growth.
Apart from selling vegetables, Greenphyto has two other sources of revenue.
It has set up offices in Malaysia and the Netherlands to sell its novel farming system globally.
A third revenue source is the nervous system of the farm – its AI software that monitors crop health, measures the germination rate and predicts production yield.
The farm hopes to sell its AI solutions to other farms and industries, such as the food and beverage sector, as well as to supply chain companies.
Farm staff receive e-mail alerts daily on any issues facing the crops – like yellowing leaves – while the AI system suggests what might be the root causes.
“This will help the farm managers make decisions on whether they need to harvest early or change the parameters in the chamber,” said Liow Wei Quan, Greenphyto’s chief digital officer.
The farm’s AI capabilities were developed with the support of the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Digital Leaders Programme, which also helped the firm hire data engineers and software developers.
Greenphyto is now planning a technology spin-off, Arber.ai, to provide consultancy services to help other farms and local SMEs in other sectors adopt digital solutions in their businesses.
The farm is also backed by the Singapore Food Agency’s Agri-food Cluster Transformation Fund, which supports local farms in adopting technologies and increasing productivity. - The Straits Times/ANN
