By Li Lei and Pu Yangyang

BEIJING, Feb. 7 -- A border defense company assigned to the PLA Xinjiang Military Command stationed in Shenxianwan at an elevation of 5,380 meters got good news that a smart "vegetable factory" has produced the first batch of fresh leafy greens of eight varieties. For the service members of the sentry post, they could now grow whatever they aspire, instead of eating whatever they had.

It is reported that the Xinjiang Military Command has kept on introducing high-tech planting technologies time and time again in the past. However, due to the long wintertime, low average temperature throughout the year and oxygen level in the atmosphere, the average growth cycle of vegetables was very long at the elevation of over 5,000 meters. It remained dauntingly difficult to meet the troops’ demands for fresh vegetables in a steady and stable way.

This time, the PLA Xinjiang Military Command has introduced advanced biological and optoelectronics technologies, and made use of intelligent computers and electronic sensing systems to monitor and manage the environmental factors, such as temperatures for vegetable plant growth, humidity levels and light intelligently. Besides, the vegetable growing environment was kept so clean at the same time that the products were edible, sparing the trouble of washing.

It is learned that the smart vegetable factory was built at the Shenxianwan border defense company late last year. Compared with the ordinary greenhouse vegetables, the first batch of vegetables has got a significantly-shortened growth cycle, with an average daily output of about 10kg.

Based on what has been achieved, there would be more smart vegetable factories for the PLA plateau border defense troops in the near future, according to a competent officer in the Xinjiang Military Command.