Singapore’s ‘sky-high farm’ towers over city with robot helpers

SINGAPORE: Move over skyscrapers—there’s a new giant in town. At 23 meters tall, Greenphyto’s vertical farm in Jurong West isn’t just the world’s tallest indoor farm—it’s a living, breathing experiment in how technology and nature can grow together, and yes, almost everything inside is run by robots and AI.

Towering veggies and friendly robots

Step inside the gleaming five-storey farm, and it feels like walking into a sci-fi movie. Leafy greens stretch skyward on hydroponic towers taller than a seven-storey building. Each tower is stacked with more than 500 racks of vegetables, glowing under energy-efficient LED lights.

Zipping quietly along the middle of the towers is a purple crane-like robot, checking on crops, moving seedlings, and making sure every plant gets exactly what it needs to thrive. At full capacity, the farm produces 2,000 tonnes of greens a year—from kailan and lettuce to baby spinach and arugula. Many of these are already making their way to supermarket shelves under the Hydrogreens brand.

Smart tech, happy plants

Founder Susan Chong has spent years fine-tuning the farm’s technology to solve problems that have tripped up other high-tech farms. Crops are grown only after orders come in, preventing waste. AI keeps a watchful eye on leaf colour, germination, and growth rates, sending alerts to farm staff if anything seems off. Even the lighting adjusts itself to each plant’s needs, cutting energy use by 30%.

“It’s not about flashy machines,” Ms Chong says. “It’s about using tech to grow better vegetables that people actually want to eat.”

From community garden to world record

Greenphyto’s story started small. In 2011, Ms Chong donated hydroponic systems to local schools and community gardens. Encouraged by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, she began thinking about automation. By 2014, she left her sustainable packaging business behind to fully focus on high-tech farming.

Today, her towers are a mix of urban farming, robotics, and clever supply chain design—a farm that looks more like a futuristic playground than a place where your salad greens are grown.

Growing beyond greens

However, Greenphyto isn’t just about vegetables. The farm is exporting its AI software and vertical farming systems around the world, with offices in Malaysia and the Netherlands. Its tech spin-off, Arber.ai, will help other farms and businesses adopt smart automation.

Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad praised Greenphyto for combining innovation with efficiency. “With robots doing the heavy lifting and AI guiding every step, this farm could set the blueprint for the future of urban farming,” he said.

And for now, every time someone bites into a crisp green leaf from the Hydrogreens brand, they’re tasting not just vegetables—but 14 years of persistence, creativity, and a little bit of science fiction brought to life.