# A Critical Review of the Status of Current Greenhouse Technology in China and Development Prospects
## 7 China Greenhouse Development Opportunities and Prospects Analysis
### Development Prospects  
In 2018, the Chinese government proposed the Digital Countryside Strategy, which means accelerating the pace of the broadband network and fourth-generation mobile communication network coverage in rural areas and developing information technology products, applications, and services adapted to the characteristics of China's \"three rural\" strategy. The Digital Countryside Strategy is leading to the development of sensors, drones, agricultural robots, and other technologies for use in new greenhouses, and these technologies have made it easier to manage greenhouse environments. The integrated application of satellite remote sensing, aerial remote sensing, and ground-based Internet of Things (IoT) agricultural information acquisition technology is becoming mature, and Baidu automatic navigation of agricultural machinery operation and monitoring technology have also made important breakthroughs. Thus, the management of greenhouses and crops has been made easier through the dynamic monitoring of crop planting types, area, growth, pests, and diseases through the provision of early warning information to growers. It is necessary to strengthen the key digital technologies and strengthen the research on developing special agricultural sensors and corresponding agricultural robots, intelligent agricultural machinery, and equipment. Plant growth databases and software should be developed, such as digital twin greenhouses and similar technologies, to simulate the growth of plants under different environments to provide new plants and ensure their optimal growth. Furthermore, it is necessary to enhance the use of smart sensors to intelligently monitor plant growth and identify diseases early to improve crop yields. China's future research should be directed towards co-controlling temperature, especially plant temperature (not simply the greenhouse air temperature), humidity, and CO\({}_{2}\) content in greenhouses, as these factors are interdependent and together significantly affect plant growth and crop production. At the same time, advanced control methods should be developed and applied, such as fuzzy control, neural network control, genetic algorithms, and others. Control system hardware should also be developed in the direction of distributed control. In the case of a centralized control system, if the system fails, the whole system will collapse. In a distributed computer control system, each sub-processor deals with its own collected data and control, i.e., the sub-processors are not affected by the control center and work independently. Distributed control has the advantages of high reliability, can be easily expanded, and has good adaptability, eliminating the problems involved in central control system failure. The greenhouses in China should be transformed into green greenhouses. Green greenhouses use non-toxic and environmentally friendly construction materials that protect and do not pollute the environment, and at the same time, they can ensure that crops grow at optimal conditions. Green greenhouses use solar, geothermal, wind, and other renewable energies to reduce CO\({}_{2}\) emissions and save energy. In addition, green greenhouses reduce the development of pests and diseases, reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and protect the environment. Although research in China on the development of green greenhouses has been intensified in recent years, at present, it is still in its infancy overall, and there are still many technical problems to be solved [70]. The greenhouses currently in use are gradually being transformed to intelligent greenhouses through the use of smart equipment and with the development of internet technology. They use environmental monitoring systems that constantly collect environmental parameters to be used by the automatic greenhouse control system, which makes decisions using AI.