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(Controlled Environment Agriculture) (CEA) -- which includes indoor agriculture (IA) and vertical farming—is a technology-based approach toward food production. “Greenhouse cultivation has evolved from simple covered rows of open-fields crops to highly sophisticated controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities that projected the image of plant factories for urban agriculture.” Understanding the history of farming efforts to control agricultural environments helps provide a foundation for moving forward as new and better technology becomes available. Though many popular discussions of CEA, indoor agriculture, and plant factories focus on more recent innovations, the commercial CEA mushroom industry dating back to the 19th Century beginning in Chester County, Pennsylvania where half of USA mushroom production takes place. As the Chester County Planning Commission defines it “Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA) is the practice of growing plants indoors using engineering, plant science, and computer-managed greenhouse control technologies to optimize plant growth, quality, and production efficiency. By controlling temperature, light, carbon dioxide, and the root-zone growing medium, CEA can result in healthy and year-round production of edible, ornamental, and high value plants.”   As CEA technology evolved in the local commercial mushroom industry much of that technology transferred over to other crops with the result that ”Southern Chester County is currently the largest indoor agriculture center in the country.”

The aim of CEA is to provide protection from the outdoor elements and maintain optimal growing conditions throughout the development of the crop. CEA Plants are grown in a both soil and soilless medium in order to supply the proper amounts of water and nutrients to the root zone as well as supplemental lighting to ensure a sufficient daily light integral. Production takes place within an enclosed growing structure such as a greenhouse or plant factory [1]  CEA optimizes the use of resources such as water, energy, space, capital and labor. CEA technologies include hydroponics aeroponics, aquaculture, and aquaponics [2]

Different techniques are available for growing food in controlled environment agriculture. Currently, the greenhouse industry is the largest component of the CEA industry but another quickly growing segment is the vertical farming industry. As practiced in the US, commercial CEA mushroom production is indoor, vertical farming on a large scale. US mushroom production volume for 2022-2023 was 667 million pounds with a wholesale value of $1.04 billion. Controlled Environment Agriculture has the ability to produce crops all year round, with the possibility of increased yield by adjusting the amount of carbon and nutrients the plants receive.

(Benke et al).[3]

In consideration to urban agriculture, CEA can exist inside repurposed structures, built to purpose structures or in basements and subterranean spaces.[4] The trend is increasingly growing into alternative food networks, as entrepreneurs and households seek to meet the growing demand for fresh food products.[5]

Technical implementation
The common technical goal of CEA design is to quantify growing parameters and automate environmental controls. Using typical CEA mushroom industry standards it is possible to evaluate other “cultivation facilities from three perspectives, 1) the development of environmental monitoring and controlling systems; 2) the application of computer modeling in addressing indoor environmental issues; 3) the refinement of mushroom facility design, including structure and ventilation scheme. With the aid of cutting-edge technologies, accomplishments have been made in developing smart farming systems that facilitate real-time recording of environmental parameters and automatic regulation of equipment”

Facilities Design
While the facilities for individual CEA farms are crop specific, all CEA farms share many design elements. Since all crops require a nutritional medium, irrigation, fresh air circulation, humidity control, temperature control, light, and physical space for both growth and be harvest, the necessary infrastructure to support these elements share a great deal of commonality across all sectors of the CEA industry. Reviewing internet pictures of CEA facilities reveals common visual themes seen throughout the industry. Some facilities can be brown-field developed making use of existing warehouse buildings, but most are and will be purpose built. The advantage of purpose building for a particular crop or crops is that the facility can be configured to maximize the use of emerging technology.

The design stage of facility development is an opportune time to consider incorporation of sustainable elements. For example, physical orientation of the facility should be considered in order to maximize the potential for harvesting wind and solar energy. CEA farming is already quite sustainable in that it is conducted indoors, often in a vertical planting arrangement, and thus “conserves land area and can result in higher crop yields when compared to outdoor farming practices.”   However, additional applications of sustainable design are possible such as wastewater recycling and heat scavenging to target closed-loop system integration. Similarly, waste by-products from harvesting, such as stems, might be processed and re-incorporated into the growing medium, and off-gassed nutrients from the indoor air could be captured and re-incorporated. By-products from the operation, or from neighboring farms, might be digested in kilns to generate both heat and electricity for use in the farm’s processes with the residual carbon ash sold for industrial purposes.

As an example of incorporating some of the aforementioned design elements, the Premier Mushroom Farm in Colusa, California, has achieved a near closed-loop operating environment. Its irrigation water is recaptured for processing in a zero wastewater design, its harvest by-products are mixed back into the growing medium recipe, air borne nutrients are captured and processed into a soil amendment, and walnut and almond shells from neighboring farms are kiln digested to generate electricity with the carbon ash captured and sold to other industries. (D)

Motivation
Crops can be grown for food, pharmaceutical and nutriceutical applications. It can also be used to grow algae for food or for biofuels.

CEA methods can increase food safety by removing sources of contamination, and increases the security of supply as it is unaffected by outside environment conditions and eliminates seasonality to create a stable market pricing, which is good for both farmers and consumers. The use of monitoring software and automation can greatly reduce the amount of human labor required.

CEA is used in research so that a specific aspect of production can be isolated while all other variables remain the same. For example, the use of tinted greenhouse glass could be compared to clear glass in this way during an investigation into photosynthesis.[7]

A February 2011 article in the magazine Science Illustrated states, “In commercial agriculture, CEA can increase efficiency, reduce pests and diseases, and save resources. ... Replicating a conventional farm with computers and LED lights is expensive but proves cost-efficient in the long run by producing up to 20 times as much high-end, pesticide-free produce as a similar-size plot of soil. Fourteen thousand square feet of closely monitored plants produce 15 million seedlings annually at the solar-powered factory. Such factories will be necessary to meet urban Chinas rising demand for quality fruits and vegetables.” [8]

As stated in the 2021 Global CEA Census Report “Mushrooms have been traditionally grown in CEA systems for decades and a forecasted increased demand for specialty mushrooms have seemed to catch the interest of many CEA operators. The main drivers for the uptick in demand are customers’ increasing awareness of the health benefits of mushrooms (specifically around protein as a meat-alternative), the unique medicinal benefits provided by fungi, and a desire to try different types of mushrooms. “(G)  

Advantages of CEA over traditional field farming:[9]

Water efficiency[10]

Space use efficiency

Reduced transportation requirements

Reliable year-round production

Protection from adverse weather events

Reduce fertilizer runoff

Pleasant working conditions

Urban impacts
According to the findings of a USDA workshop in 2018, indoor agriculture (IA) in urban and near-urban areas has the potential to act as a consistent, local, and accessible producer and distributor of fresh produce. Growing crops indoors on vertical or horizontal racks also conserves land area and can result in higher crop yields when compared to outdoor farming practices. If these farms are placed strategically, this possibility of local food production, processing, and distribution could be especially impactful for urban areas without reliable access to affordable and fresh produce. Such farms could also have far-reaching impacts in traditionally underserved communities by creating opportunities for training employment and business development in an emerging sector.[11]

Industry
As of mid-2021, reportedly 16.55 million square feet (380 acres / 154 hectares) of indoor farms were operating around the world. The State of Indoor Farming annual report suggests this will grow to 22 million sq. ft. (505 acres / 204 hectares) by 2022.[12] (By comparison, the USDA reported 915 million acres (38 million hectares) of farmland in the United States, alone, in 2012.) [13]  According to Fortune Business Insights, “the global mushroom market size was $17.25 million tonnes in 2023 & is projected to grow from 18.39 million tonnes in 2024 to 32.04 million tonnes in 2032.”

As of 2018, an estimated 40 indoor vertical farms exist in the United States, some of which produce commercially sold produce and others which are not yet selling to consumers.[14] Another source estimates over 100 startups in the space of 2018.[15] In Asia, adoption of indoor agriculture has been driven by consumer demand for quality.[16] The Recirculating Farms Coalition is a US trade organization for hydroponic farmers.[17]

A 2020 survey of indoor farming in the U.S.[18] found that indoor production was:

26% leafy greens

20% herbs

16% microgreens

10% tomatoes

28% other

AeroFarms, founded in 2011, raised $40 million in 2017 and reportedly opened the largest indoor farm in the world in Newark, New Jersey in 2015;[19] by 2018 it built its 10th indoor farm.[19] As of June 2023, AeroFarms filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection citing “significant industry and capital market headwinds”.[20]    

Economics
The economics of indoor farming has been challenging, with high capital investment and energy operating costs[11] particularly the price of electricity—and several startups shut down as a result. [21] Comprehensive initial financial planning is proving critical to the CEA sector. A 2018 U.S. survey found only 51% of indoor farming operations profitable.[22]

A 2020 U.S. survey found that typical indoor agriculture crops, per pound of crop yield, consumed between US$0.47 (for leafy greens) and US$1.38 (for microgreens) in inputs (especially seed, growing media, and nutrients) -- though tomatoes were reported at US$0.06 inputs per pound. Labor costs for container farms were reported at US$2.35 per pound. However, the same survey noted that indoor agriculture yields more revenue per pound than conventional field agriculture.[23]

In the Asia-Pacific region, where burgeoning population growth conflicts with burgeoning space requirements for agriculture to feed the population, indoor farming is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29%, growing from a 2021 value of US$0.77 billion to a 2026 value of US$2.77 billion.[12]

Advances in LED lighting have been one of the most important advances for improving economic viability.[14][12] The high financial cost of investing in CEA presents a challenge that can only be overcome through research & development to innovate sustainable practices. The production potential of these farm networks justifies the investment in infrastructural value and contributes towards the 2030 SDGS to combat carbon footprint.[5]

Organic agriculture
In 2017, the US National Organic Standards Board voted to allow hydroponically grown produce to be labeled as certified organic [17]