CEA farming may be the answer to a big problem scientists and horticulturists are trying to solve.
As the world’s population continues to grow, the demand for food is increasing exponentially. However, many believe our current food production systems are unsustainable and insufficient in the long run.
Additionally, traditional agriculture practices are quite inefficient and impactful to the earth. They can lead to environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources.
To address these issues, a form of agriculture, called Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), is gaining popularity.
What is CEA farming?
CEA farming refers to the practice of growing crops in a controlled environment, such as a greenhouse or indoor vertical farm. CEA farming uses technology to regulate environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, light, and nutrients.
The goal of CEA agriculture is to optimize plant growth and yield while minimizing environmental impacts through a reduction in consumed resources to grow, harvest, and deliver crops, such as water and energy.
Types of CEA agriculture
Multiple cultivation methods lend themselves to CEA agriculture. They are:
Hydroponics: Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants without soil. Instead, the roots of the plants are suspended in nutrient-rich water.
There are a number of hydroponic systems used for growing fruits and vegetables.
Aquaponics: Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. It involves growing plants and fish together in a closed system.
In this system, the fish provide nutrients for the plants, and the plants clean the water for the fish, thereby creating a symbiotic environment.
Aeroponics: Aeroponics is a type of hydroponics that utilizes a misting system to provide nutrients directly to plant roots.
Soil: This is your traditional soil farming method that involves growing plants directly in containers of soil.
Advantages of CEA farming
There are a number of benefits to CEA farming. Among them:
1. Increased yield: CEA agriculture can increase crop yields by providing optimal growing conditions for plants, including temperature, humidity, light, and nutrients. This can help to maximize the use of available space and resources.
Increased yields will be even more pronounced when using hydroponics over soil farming.
2. Reduced water usage: CEA farming, particularly hydroponics and aquaponics, uses significantly less water than traditional agriculture. This is because water is recycled and reused in CEA farms.
Recycling water helps to conserve water resources and reduces water pollution that occurs from pesticide and fertilizer runoff.
3. Reduced pesticide use: In CEA farming, pests and diseases can be controlled without the use of chemical pesticides, since the controlled environment can help to prevent the introduction, growth, and spread of pests.
4. Reduced transportation impacts: CEA farms grow food closer to where it is consumed. This means a massive reduction in transportation miles. In fact, Hippo Harvest, a well-known hydroponic farm, believes it creates 80% fewer transportation miles as compared to a traditional farm.
The company does this by locating the greenhouses closer to where the produce will be sold and consumed. This not only results in lower emissions from reduced transportation but also increases the shelf life of fresh produce by up to five days!
Further, according to a Cornell University article on CEA farming, “Transportation relies on liquid fuels, the price of which is predicted to rise faster than the general inflation rate. Production in CEA facilities relies on electricity and natural gas, the prices of which are predicted to rise no faster than inflation.”
The benefits related to transportation could become a more significant influence to the growth of CEA farms over time.
5. Reduced carbon footprint: The last three bullets speak to how CEA farming can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of food production and delivery by using energy-efficient technologies, water conservation, and limited pesticides.
6. Protection from weather catastrophes: We’ve all heard stories of catastrophic impacts to crops because of weather events, such as hail storms or sudden temperature fluctuations. CEA farms are essentially immune to this risk. If climate change causes increased weather volatility as scientists predict, you may see quicker adoption of CEA farms as a result.
7. Year-round production: This is huge. CEA farming can produce crops year-round regardless of location, seasonal changes, or weather conditions. This is an enormous benefit that helps to ensure a consistent supply of fresh produce throughout the year.
Challenges of CEA agriculture
If you’ve read our article on the downsides of hydroponics, the challenges of CEA farming are what you might expect:
1. High capital costs: The initial investment required for CEA farming can be high. Building out a controlled farming environment does not come cheap, especially if you want to farm at scale.
Consider the costs of a building or greenhouse, lighting, irrigation, ventilation systems, and the labor expense to make it all work.
And, many large CEA farms are also expensive to operate over time.
2. Technology and technical expertise requirements: CEA farming requires specialized technical expertise and knowledge of plant biology, engineering, and technology.
To be most efficient and productive, CEA farming systems rely heavily on technology. This includes water pumps, irrigation timers, temperature and humidity sensors, and heating and cooling components, among other pieces.
An industrial-scale CEA farm is heavily dependent on the success of its underlying technology. This can be a competitive advantage at the cost of added complexity and expense.
It is vital to not only have someone that knows the horticulture aspect of optimizing yields but also the technology and automation component.
3. Increased energy usage: Indoor CEA agriculture can be energy-intensive, since it requires lighting and climate control systems to be operational on a regular basis.
Greenhouses can minimize lighting costs through the use of natural sunlight. And, certain climates require less heating and cooling as compared to others.
4. Limited crop variety: CEA farming is best suited for crops, such as herbs, leafy greens, bushy vegetables, and microgreens. Growing crops that require larger amounts of space, such as corn or wheat, is not practical at the current costs of doing business at a scale necessary to generate profit.
Conclusion
CEA farming offers a promising solution to the challenges facing traditional agriculture. By providing a controlled environment for plant growth, CEA farming can increase crop yields, reduce resource usage, and minimize environmental impacts.
Although CEA farming comes with its own set of challenges, such as high capital costs, it has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce food and provide a sustainable source of fresh produce for generations to come.
If you are interested in learning about a company doing CEA farming in shipping containers, check out our article on Square Roots!
