Key members
The PFIG working group will administer activities relating to plant factory and intelligent greenhouse in CIGR. The chairs and the steering committee members are responsible for all the missions, objectives and aims, and work plan of this working group by keeping close communication with the CIGR Presidium. Furthermore, the chairs and the steering committee members should revise the work plan to keep high standard of the working group in the field according to changes in academic and social demands. The chairs are responsible for planning and management of this working group, as well as attracting funding/support/collaboration. The secretary is responsible for keeping updated records for the steering committee members and associated organization members, preparing meeting agenda and summary reports, and sometimes undertaking small cashier job for the working group if appropriate.
Chair: Dr. Hirokazu Fukuda (Osaka Prefecture University, Japan)
Dr. Hirokazu Fukuda is an associate professor of Osaka Prefecture University and he belongs to Course of Bio-Production Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering in Graduate School of Engineering. He was conferred PhD in Engineering from Kyushu University in 2004 and started to work as an assistant professor at Osaka Prefecture University in 2005, and was promoted as associate professor in 2011. And, he is also affiliated with the Research and Development Center for the Plant Factories of Osaka Prefecture University. The research center was established in 2010 supported by Japanese government, i.e. the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries and the ministry of economy, trade and industry, as one of the three major research centers for plant factory and intelligent greenhouse in Japan. He has been focusing on development of plant diagnosis system by using the modeling and bioinformatics to find a way to increase productivity in plant factory. The established his unique prediction model and bioinformatics for the biological clocks have been installed as the commercial techniques in the plant factory. Currently, he is studying on the understanding of instability in plant production which is caused by the non-linearity of plant environmental responses.
E-mail: fukuda@bioinfo.osakafu-u.ac.jp
Vice-chair: Dr.Esteban José Baeza Romero (Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
Almería 10.07.1976 is PhD on Agronomic Engineering by the University of Almería (2007). Nowadays he holds a research position in Wagenigen UR Glastuinbouw. He also held for two years a post-doc position in the Physiology and Protected Crop Technology in the IFAPA (Institute for Research and Training in Agriculture and Fisheries of Andalucía) Center La Mojonera in Almería. Before that, he worked as a researcher in the Greenhouse Technology Department of the Experimental Station Las Palmerillas of Cajamar from 2000 to 2011.
His research activity has been focused on the field of greenhouse technology for different climates, with special attention to the Mediterranean region. His main fields of research range from the modeling and improvement of greenhouse natural ventilation systems (using different techniques such as Computational Fluid Dynamics), design of new greenhouse prototypes, testing of greenhouse covering materials, testing of different greenhouse cooling and heating techniques, development of new greenhouse concepts (heat storage, semi-closed greenhouses, etc.), CO2 enrichment, greenhouse climate modeling and use of renewable energies in the greenhouse, amongst others. Recently his work has been focused on modelling greenhouse climate (crop radiative losses) and plant processes (photosynthesis) in high tech greenhouses, amongst other projects.
He has participated in multiple research projects funded from regional, national or European institutions. He is co-author of 12 peer reviewed papers, 8 chapters in specialized books, 57 contributions to national and international workshops and symposia (9 times as invited speaker), a patent and a large number of participations in national and international courses and seminars. He speaks fluently 3 languages (Spanish, English and French).
Website: https://www.wur.nl/nl/Personen/Esteban-EJ-Esteban-Baeza-Romero-PhD.htm
Secretary: Dr. Kotaro Takayama (Ehime University, Japan)
Dr. Kotaro Takayama is an associate professor of Ehime University and he belongs to Course of Bio-mechanical Systems, Department of Food Production Science in Graduate School of Agriculture. He was conferred PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2004 and started to work as an assistant professor at Ehime University, and was promoted as senior assistant in 2007, as associate professor in 2013. And, he is also affiliated with the Research Center for High-technology Plant Production of Ehime University. The research center was established in 2010 supported by Japanese government, i.e. the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries and the ministry of economy, trade and industry, as one of the three major research centers for plant factory and intelligent greenhouse in Japan. He has been focusing on development of plant diagnosis system by using imaging techniques such as digital color imaging, thermal imaging, and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging and techniques of volatile organic compounds (plant's odor) measurement. And, he also intends to install the developed plant diagnosis techniques into commercial plant factories and intelligent greenhouses through collaborative researches with companies. Recently, a plant diagnosis robot, which evaluates the activeness of photosynthetic election transport with chlorophyll fluorescence imaging technique at canopy level in a greenhouse, became commercially available. Furthermore, the researches on plant diagnosis based on the measurement of plant's odor have been conducted by an international collaborative research with Wageningen UR in the Netherlands.
E-mail: takayama.kotaro.mk@ehime-u.ac.jp
Vice-secretary: Dr. Noriko Takahashi (Ehime University, Japan)
Dr. Noriko Takahashi is a senior assistant professor at Ehime University and she belongs to Course of Bio-mechanical Systems, Department of Food Production Science in Graduate School of Agriculture. And, she is also affiliated with the Research Center for High-technology Plant Production of Ehime University. She was conferred PhD in Agriculture engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2006. She has worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Ohio State University from 2006 to 2008, at Kyoto University from 2008 to 2009, and at Osaka Prefecture University in 2010. She started to work as an assistant professor at Ehime University in 2011 and was promoted as senior assistant in 2016. She has been focusing on the environmental control to promote the plant quality in plant factory and greenhouse by developing the model. The model has been developing by an international collaborative research with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Currently, she is going to establish the association in Shikoku branch for supporting an active woman farmer.
E-mail: takahashi.noriko.mm@ehime-u.ac.jp
Vice-secretary: Dr. Ryosuke Endo (Osaka Prefecture University, Japan)
Dr. Ryosuke Endo is a senior assistant professor at Osaka Prefecture University and he belongs to Course of Environmental Control in Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences and Technology in Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences. He was conferred PhD in Agriculture engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2005 and started to work as an assistant professor at Nihon University to 2009, an assistant professor at Osaka Prefecture University from 2009 and was promoted as senior assistant professor in 2017. He has been focusing on development of sustainable and resilient plant production system in greenhouse by implementation of biomass conversion technologies. Especially, he intends to quad-generation (Electronic power, heat, CO2 and nutrient solution) by installing methane fermentation technology in semi-closed plant production system. Additionally, the studies towards sustaining biodiesel production have been conducted by an international collaborative research with Cantho University in Vietnam.
E-mail: endo@envi.osakafu-u.ac.jp