Dr Achim Walter Editor

Dr Achim Walter is Professor of Crop Science and Head of the Crop Sciences Group in the Department of Environmental Systems Science in the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Professor Walter is a member of the scientific advisory boards of several national and international agricultural research institutions. He is internationally-renowned for his research in image-based phenotyping of plant shoots and roots. Dr Eri Hayashi is the President of the JPFA, where she is also the Director of International Relations and Consulting. Eri was Research Project Leader for a national project on Artificial Intelligence- and Phenotyping-based Smart Plant Factories with Artificial Lighting (PFALs). She leads a number of international projects on technology development, has given presentations at a number of international conferences, and has written widely on the topic of smart plant factories. She was a co-convener of the Symposium of Advances in Vertical Farming at the 31st International Horticultural Congress (IHC 2022). She led the JPFA in organizing the first JPFA International Symposium on Plant Factory (ISPF 2023) at Kashiwanoha, Japan.