The factors spurring continued growth are diverse, as are pressures facing new and established growers alike. A changing climate and the need for greater food security, however, have governments, academic institutions and the private sector increasingly looking to protected food production as the way forward.
Twenty years of explosive growthClimate concerns and the need to improve domestic supply have been particularly significant drivers in countries where food security has been a long-running issue, says Mohyuddin Mirza, a veteran greenhouse industry consultant and researcher, and founding member of the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association, in the province of Alberta, Canada.
“Governments are realizing protected cultivation is the way to go; we could use natural sunlight much more efficiently, and very interesting is major expansions are occurring in the Middle East area, where they have been relying on food imports for a very long time,” he says, citing Quatar and Saudi Arabia as two notable examples. India has similarly invested in greater greenhouse acreage, as has the Netherlands – a country long associated with greenhouse production and technical innovation.
In the case of the latter, however, a limited domestic land base means expansion is occurring outside the country’s borders. Institutions such
as Wageningen University & Research (WUR), for example, operates the Horti Nigeria project to “facilitate the development of a sustainable and inclusive horticulture sector” in the West Africa state. As described by WUR resources, the project is aligned with the Dutch and Nigerian food security and private sector development activities, and takes place within the framework of the larger transformation of food systemsin Nigeria.
Expansion is ongoing in other traditional greenhouse powerhouses as well, including Canada and the United States. Mirza says Ontario takes the top Canadian place for greenhouse vegetable production, followed by British Columbia and Quebec. The global growth of greenhouse vegetable production can even be seen in Mirza’s home province of Alberta, where he estimates expansion has been occurring at five to 10 percentyear-over-year.
New crops, new acresAnalysts at Allied Market Research anticipate continued growth in global greenhouse vegetable acreage. According to a report published in June 2022, the global greenhouse horticulture market is expected to garner USD$65 billion by 2030 – more than double the $32.3 billion value in 2021. By product type, reads a report synopsis, fruits and vegetables accounted for the highest market share in 2021, and it is estimated to show the fastest growth into 2030.
Along with the production benefits afforded to growers by indoor environments, the report emphasizes growth is also spurred by the ability to “cultivate off-season crops to aid in the production of high-demand and market-value commodities. This is because the temperature, moisture, light and humidity essential for growing off-season fruits and vegetables are all controlled in the greenhouse (and) is predicted to boost the segment in the estimated period.”
The variety of vegetable and fruit crops being produced indoors is expanding along with square footage. Mirza says cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes still comprise the top three staples worldwide. Fruits such as strawberries, though, have made significant inroads – as have a wide range of eggplants and hot peppers – as growers attempt to supply large and diverse markets.
“There are fruits too, berries… Ontario and British Columbia has taken a lead role there. Alberta is trying but there are challenges with strawberries,” he says.
Fadi Al-Daoud, greenhouse vegetable specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, adds eggplant, lettuce and other leafy greens to the list of crops growing in popularity among greenhouse operators. The focus on leafy greens has been driven in part, he says, by production stresses in California and the high costs associated with importing product.
From berries to Chinese cabbage,Al-Daoud says greenhouses across North America are experimenting with an ever-wider range of crops. But while acreage of less traditional crops is increasing, many remain niche products.
“There is definitely diversity in the market. It depends on the sustainability of production. But right now, I think commercial production is still very much the three big crops, and some others,” he says.
Challenges to expansionDespite growing markets, Mirza anticipates growth to continue at a cooler pace – in the area of 10 to 20 percent rather than 50 to 100. Such a slowdown is not a result of waning interest, he says, but a reflection of major production challenges and barriers to expansion.
Examples of immediate challenges include high costs and turbulence in the fertilizer market. The price of natural gas – itself a critical factor in fertilizer prices – is another, although energy costs in general have put significant pressure on the industry. Globally, natural gas will remain the fuel of choice because it is cleaner than other fuels, although green energy sources will gain in popularity as costs come down.
“Solar energy panels will gain more popularity and they are getting cheaper. Also, wind. There is more emphasis on less energy use and making it carbon neutral. There are two approaches growers are taking – increasing productivity per square metre and energy conservation. The ability to sell electricity to the grid is gaining [traction] because that’s much more economical. You sell it at your site after making it and use it. Advancements are being made on several fronts,” says Mirza.
“For example, in Canada, our top tomato growers are 70 kilograms per square metre. The average is55 to 60 kilograms, but consistentlywe need to produce 70 per year to pay for high energy costs [and] nutrients. It’s not only using less energy, it’s using whatever is required to go to the plant. This requires far better knowledge of the crop. There’s a much more [significant] knowledge component. That’s where the future is.”
Long a monkey on the industry’s back, labour issues will remain a burden. Indeed, Mirza says labour is a ubiquitous, highly complex issue across nearly all geographies, albeit caused by different things. Depending on where in the world a greenhouse business operates, the challenge could stem from a lack of available manpower locally, a lack of interest amoung local people, or both. Increased automation is likely to play a role, but the process will not happen uniformly.
“Sometimes the local population does not want to work in the greenhouse because it’s not a living wage to start with,” says Mirza.
Greenhouse developments are not always welcome by local communities, either. Very high concentrations of vegetable and cannabis greenhouses in parts of southwestern Ontario, for example, have been criticized on a variety of fronts: significant light pollution, damage to county roads and other local infrastructure, and the outpacing of municipal capacity to supply water and electricity, to name a few.
An automated futureOverall, labour and resource use remain the top issues. According to Silke Hemming, scientific research head for WUR’s greenhouse technology team, the need for solutions is driving ever more research into autonomous production capability. Indeed, her institution now operates an annual competition – the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge – to further facilitate the development, commercialization and proliferation of autonomous equipment in the industry.
“Wageningen University is working on autonomous greenhouses, climate control, crop modelling, use of sensors, data, intelligence [and] computer vision together with an international community of start-ups, companies from agriculture and tech, students and researchers. The challenge contributes to the [university’s] vision to develop new technology and new algorithms for and together with industry,” says Hemming.
Crop physiology analysis, product quality analysis and plant phenotyping hold prominent spots in current robotics research. Broadly speaking, Hemming adds the greenhouse industry was “quite reluctant” to use new AI
technologies before the first challenge was conducted, although data-driven horticulture has since become the standard.
In future, greater production standardization, better input-to-yield ratios, ease of grower decision making, and an overall higher production standard are expected.
Adoption of production technologies, including robotics, is not universal or uniform. As Al-Daoud describes, crop type, production needs, age of infrastructure and origin of the technology in question, and other factors all determine whether a new technology will be incorporated.
“The majority of technology is coming from Europe, from the Netherlands. In order to be proven here we need to de-risk some of that investment,” he says. “It’s the same issue no matter what part of the world you have the greenhouse in. You have to make sure you demonstrate the technology will do what it did for the Dutch. You start with a small part of the greenhouse where you demonstrate and build out from there.”
Internet connectivity – or a lack thereof – also remains a fundamental challenge in many areas.
“With automation comes a lot of other things,” adds Al-Daoud. “Especially with AI, you need access to the cloud. A lot of that data is processed through the internet. The older greenhouses are not necessarily set up to house automation. Growers have them paid off and keep them as-is. There isn’t the same incentive to modernize.”
Change has been occurring at a fast pace despite such challenges. While much work needs to be done in the development of robots that physically handle crops, Al-Daoud says there is significant interest in automating packing lines – an otherwise very labour-intensive part of the production process. More accurate and timely control systems, too, are a top area of interest.
“Upgrades to [monitoring] systems, these are all things that can be done no matter the greenhouse or what’s being grown. What we’re seeing is a lot more interest in autonomous growing, not only looking at present conditions in the greenhouse, but forecasting.” ●
The variety of vegetable and fruit crops being produced indoors is expanding along with square footage.
There are two approaches growers are taking – increasing productivity per square metre and energy conservation.
Greenhouses are a frequent feature on the Icelandic rural landscape and an integral part of the country’s food system, a country that lacks a temperate climate for necessary for many crops. Historically, Iceland’s farmers took full advantage of the country’s geothermal heat, extending the growing season of a few agriculture crops such as potatoes and some grains. Glass greenhouses began to increase in popularity as Iceland’s population grew, again, harnessing geothermal heat, thus increasing food security for consumers.
Yet today, Iceland sources most of its food externally, so the role and future of the greenhouse industry is less certain. This, according to a paper “Greenhouse Agriculture in the Icelandic Food System” published four years ago in the journal European Countryside.
According to paper authors Gina M. Butrico with Yale University and David H. Kaplan with Kent State University, as countries develop, they tend to outsource agriculture, causing a decline in domestic food production and the conversion of farmland to other uses. “But in the case of Iceland, agriculture, and more specifically horticulture, has a myriad of benefits that warrant its continuation and support, including promoting sustainability, increasing food security, and benefiting consumers. Yet, the benefits of greenhouse agriculture also come at a cost.”
In the paper, the authors discuss the changing role of Iceland’s greenhouses in today’s globalized economy. “We argue that the benefits provided by greenhouse agriculture are quite substantial in relation to food security and providing local foods, but the impediments are also daunting. This poses the question of whether subsidizing greenhouse agriculture is worth this cost.”
While Iceland relies heavily on imported food, it still benefits from a robust agricultural sector. Specifically, greenhouse agriculture can provide a year-round food source that is both steady and nutritious.
“We find that there is significant market demand for greenhouse products, and that greenhouses can help with food security and local foods,” noted the study authors. “Moreover, greenhouses also benefit from renewable resources. At the same time, greenhouses do require electricity and have depended on significant government subsidy. These subsidies have decreased over the last several years, and there has been a resulting decline in greenhouse production. The question is whether Iceland decides that losing much of its agricultural sector and locally sourced food is worth the social and political costs.”
Expanding Iceland’s greenhouse crops for exportA few years ago, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) analyzed the greenhouse technology required in Iceland, the costs and resource use for the crop production and the potential markets that could benefit from this export. Its study showed a methodology to analyze crop choice, technology selection and market assessment for protected cultivation in country.
Feeding a growing world population, contends WUR, brings more opportunities for controlled environmental crop production, which can increase yield per unit area of land, with very high independence of the external factors in any world location. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) can provide high-value, fresh, vitamin- and mineral-rich products, and is very efficient in the use of resources (CO2, water, fertilizers, etc.).
WUR states this may open the opportunity for world territories to play a minor role in production and export of crops in today’s world, but which have both land and large sustainable resources for a green and circular CEA.
“An example of this could be Iceland, which despite its northern latitude, has some unique characteristics which might make the island a good candidate for the establishment and operation of protected crop production,” noted the WUR study. For example, Iceland has abundant (almost) inhabited land; an unlimited supply of renewable energy (mostly geothermal and hydroelectric), and its climate is milder than that in other zones with similar latitude, thanks to the Gulf stream.
But can Iceland host “giga scale” factories for crop production and export to different world markets, and which crops could be produced competitively at a giga scale? How can productivity be improved by the technology of the growing system? How is resource use affected by climate? And finally, which export markets are most suitable?
Collaborating to find answersTo answer these questions, research was undertaken by WUR's Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture and Wageningen Economic Research in collaboration with Earth 2.0. This involved a selection of eight different crops representing mineral- and vitamin-rich fresh crops and fruits, calorie- and protein-rich tubers and cereals. The WUR team also analyzed different technical greenhouse and indoor factory designs and calculation of their resource use were considered.
“For this, the adaptive greenhouse methodology developed by Vanthoor (2011) was applied,” noted the study. “This methodology makes use of a powerful simulation model named Kaspro to obtain accurate predictions of the greenhouse indoor microclimate, the required amount of some key resources (water, energy, CO2, etc.) for production in both greenhouse and indoor factories (de Zwart, 1996) as well as crop growth simulation models such as Intkam for tomato (Marcelis et al., 2006) and lettuce (van Henten et al., 1994) and photosynthesis data from different scientific publications to predict potential crop yields of several other crops. This has been done for 89 different scenarios.”
WUR also calculated cost price for produced food crops, with data retrieved from different sources (Iceland, The Netherlands, etc.) to make the OPEX and CAPEX analysis and obtain the cost price for each studied scenario using the methodology used in the elaboration of the KWIN (Raaphorst et al., 2019).
Finally, WUR undertook market selection for food crops and data collection; a market selection tool (Market explorer) was used by Wageningen Economic Research to select the most interesting eight export destination markets (as well as the internal market) for export of the eight selected products, making a total of 64 possible combinations. After selection of the destination markets, for each product-market combination, data was obtained on wholesale and transport prices. Also, import levies were considered. The internal Icelandic market was also studied.
ResultsThe WUR study’s main conclusions:
1. There is room for feasible production in giga-scale high tech greenhouse facilities to satisfy the demand of the domestic market in Iceland for most products studied, except for cheap commodities (rice, potato, wheat).
2. Greenhouse production (using natural sunlight and artificial light
sources) should be preferred to indoor factory production (artificial light sources only). In the case of indoor farms, only lettuce is suitable to ensure a profit. “We might assume that perhaps also other leafy greens and/or aromatics and herbs might be suitable,” noted the study.
3. The analysis also indicates there are no major differences in operating giga farms between the south and the north coast of Iceland, since in terms of greenhouse crop production design perspective the outdoor climate is relatively comparable, except there is more snowfall in the north. Necessary equipment for control of crop growing conditions is comparable.
4. To export fruits or staple crops like wheat, large volumes are required to fill containers and to
export fruits; serious additional investments are required in packhouses.
WUR’s study concluded with a combined analysis of cost/benefit and market, which indicated there are three groups of crop products:
1. One group, composed of highly productive mineral and vitamin-rich crops with a large water content (lettuce, tomato, sweet pepper), are close to a profit. “However, the main bottleneck in almost all analyzed combinations is the high transport prices by airplane since short post-harvest life of the products will not allow truck transport.” A rational boost of production and decrease of resource potentially obtained bythe use of automated control by,for example, artificial intelligence algorithms in the future couldbring these products closer to
benefit, but high transport cost would remain a burden to build feasible business cases.
2. Another group, represented by calorie- and protein-rich products with low productivity per unit area, which have a large dry matter content (rice, potato, banana, avocado and wheat), do not show any profitable production in a protected environment. The reasons are their low productivity per unit area and the cheap price in the destination markets, given the large supply of these products from open field cultivation worldwide and possibilities for long term storage. There is also steep competition for these products of a few dominant producers (for example in banana trade).
3. A final group represents products for which combinations of nearby market and high destination value could lead to clear profit (i.e., raspberries in the U.S. and to a lesser extent, in the UK). “However, the profit margin is still relatively low (about 12 percent) and this is below the industry standard,” noted WUR’s study. “In this group, again, lowering transport costs would allow for more positive combinations. The use of automated control by, for example, artificial intelligence algorithms in the future or a decrease in the price of the major operational costs (i.e., electricity) would help in improving the cost/benefit balance.”
WUR’s study is interesting insofar as its methodology can be applied in different countries. Indeed, WUR tools “are ready to be used for other regions and markets in the world.”
In conclusion, the WUR study stated: “Protected cultivation (from low-tech simple tunnels to high-tech controlled environment greenhouses up to indoor factories) is becoming important to produce more fresh, vitamin- and mineral-rich food in the future in the scope of climate change. The use of sustainable resources such as energy, (e.g., geothermal and hydro-energy) and the potential for extremely high water efficiency make these systems more and more attractive.
“However, the economic viability is largely dependent on the target market and product prices, and also on the shelf-life of products and transport costs. The methodology shown here helps to quantify different production systems for different crops and markets.” ●
This study was carried out by the Wageningen Research Foundation (WR) business unit Greenhouse Horticulture and was commissioned and financed by Earth 2.0 EHF and David Wallerstein.
We find that there is significant market demand for greenhouse products, and that greenhouses can help with food security and local foods.
Greenhouse production (using natural sunlight and artificial light sources) should be preferred to indoor factory production (artificial light sources only). ”
Freshbay is launching a large-scale, deep earth geothermal powered, 19-acre controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility expected to begin operations in Hinton, Alberta, Canada, in January 2024.
The project will be the first of its kind in North America to harness deep earth geothermal energy to mass produce in remote regions.
The project will use vertical farming technologies, greenhouses, and scientific horticulture procedures in order to create 100 percent sustainable operations, to grow herbs, strawberries, and tropical fruits year-round.
The project involves the partnership of Novus Earth Energy, which has signed on to manage drilling, installation and maintenance of the geothermal wells; Canada Banana Farms, a producer of exotic fruits, which will manage growing fresh fruits while prioritizing sustainability; and F&G Strategic Partners, which is arranging for the establishment of an appropriate funding structure, to provide the capital debt facility for the project.
“This geo-agriculture project is being led by a strong, passionate geothermal energy team with strategic agriculture and tech partners,” noted Vic Reddy, CEO of Freshbay, in a news release. “By harnessing the power of geothermal energy, we can create a genuinely sustainable and efficient solution for indoor agriculture, providing fresh, healthy produce all year round.” ●
Image: Freshbay
In November 2020, Quebec (Canada) Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne and then Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonatan Julien announced more than CDN$100 million to double the size of Quebec's greenhouse operations by 2025.
The pledge was announced after the pandemic forced some countries to restrict their exports, making the province scramble to find new ways to reduce its dependence on imported foods
At the time, greenhouse operations collectively made up 123 hectares of land in the province. By May 2021, they made up 175 hectares, just 71 hectares shy of the province’s 250-hectare target.
In January of this year, Quebec’s Greenhouse Producers announced the province has reached 50 per cent self-sufficiency for greenhouse-grown vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and lettuce, said André Mousseau, president of Quebec's Greenhouse Producers (PSQ) union, though the union is aiming to push that number up to 80 per cent, according to a news report by the CBC.
Mousseau says at least a quarter of greenhouse growers have applied to the government for expansions of their operations, and, according to him, the 2025 target of 250 hectares will likely be exceeded.
To reach its goal, Agriculture Quebec is helping existing greenhouses expand through $115 million in aid programs. Smaller operations can benefit from up to $600,000 in aid for the purchase of new land or equipment, while larger greenhouses can benefit from more than$3 million.
But it’s not all about the grants. As part of the aid, all producers have access to up to 40 per cent in reimbursements on the electricity bill for the lighting and heating of their greenhouses.
In mid-2022, there were around 350 greenhouse operations in Quebec specializing in fruit and vegetable production and that, collectively, they harvested about 40,000 tonnes of produce each year.
Doubling that output is just the beginning of Quebec Agriculture’s plans. In the long term, Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne said he’d like to bring more structure to the greenhouse sector through additional government grants, an interconnected network of equipment suppliers, and research projects dedicated to developing innovative new strategiesand practices.
“Ten years down the line, we want to have a more robust and organized greenhouse sector than we have today,” Lamontagne explained. “We want to make the sector a true force to be reckoned with, so we can make our mark on the landscape of Canadian production.” ●
Plenty Unlimited Inc. is scaling its R&D capabilities by building what it says will be the world’s largest and most advanced vertical farming research center in Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.
The project is supported by a USD$20 million grant from the State of Wyoming through the Wyoming Business Council to the City of Laramie to help with construction
and infrastructure costs. Additional funding, land and support for the project is being provided by the City of Laramie and the Laramie Chamber Business Alliance (LCBA).
Plenty’s new research center is projected to be more than 60,000 square feet in size, built on 16 acres of land. The new facility will double Plenty’s research space compared to the Laramie facility it has occupied since 2016.
Over the past two years, Plenty’s R&D work has led to more than 100 new patent filings for innovations as diverse as new crop growing systems, a way to detect plant stress and new tomato plant varieties. Plenty will add 125 jobs at the new facility over the next six years, across a range of fields including science, research, engineering and data analysis.
Construction is expected to begin later this year, and the facility should open in early 2025. Plenty’s team and research work will transfer to the new facility from its current Laramie location once it’s completed. ●
The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed a joint venture agreement with AeroFarms, a U.S.-based commercial vertical farming company, to establish a company in Riyadh to build and operate indoor vertical farms in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The joint venture plans to build and operate several farms across the region in the next few years. The first farm in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to be the largest indoor vertical farm of its kind in the MENA region, will have an annual production capacity of up to 1.1 million kgs of agricultural crops.
The partnership aligns with PIF’s strategy, which focuses on developing and enabling the capabilities of key sectors, including food and agriculture, which will contribute to improving trade balance, localize technologies, develop industries and the overall growth and diversification of the Saudi economy. PIF is investing to localize new agricultural technologies that can benefit the local private sector, expanding its market reach and positioning Saudi Arabia as a leader in vertical farming.
David Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO of AeroFarms, said the company is excited to partner with PIF “to build our first large-scale commercial farm in Saudi Arabia, where the growing conditions are challenging with limited access to fresh water and arable land, and we envision building together smart indoor vertical farms throughout the broader MENA region. ●
A Biobest, ecoation and Bogaerts partnership has resulted in what they claim is the world's first autonomous IPM scouting and yield forecasting robot for greenhouses.
The Belgian-Canadian collaboration has a combined global experience of 100 years in the horticultural industry.
The autonomous robot, ROYA, is equipped with ecoation’s 360 “virtual walk” camera, a Universal Model for object detection, 3D climate and light measurement per sqm and a patented multi-modal “plant health sensor” that can flag various crop health issues at early stages and inform growers for further investigation. The robot can navigate the greenhouse autonomously and it can work during the day and night.
Bogaerts has already introduced UVc robots for disease control. The partnership will soon bring a spot-treatment sprayer solution and biological dispersal robots (T-Bot) that work seamlessly with the collaborative technology ecosystem. This ecosystem includes mobile platforms, trap scanning technology, IPM and yield forecasting solutions, greenhouse drones, and robots for other labour-intensive tasks such as harvesting and deleafing. The ecosystem is designed in such a way that growers can easily migrate all of the existing historical data that they collected manually or through other platforms to the new ecosystem.
The ROYA robot has been actively tested at the Canadian Horticultural Technology Center & Academy (HORTECA), and will be available to a select few greenhouses initially in Canada and Europe and later across the globe. ●
