Benefits of Controlled Environment Agriculture
Controlled environmental agriculture helps protect plants from disease and stress while providing ideal growing conditions for high-quality, quick-to-harvest food products – sometimes in as fast as two weeks depending on the crop. In addition to hydroponic and soilless systems/production systems, the Innovation Center utilizes data management, sensors and vertical structures to ensure ideal distribution of water, energy, capital and labor. Plus, strict entry protocols prevent pests. Together these factors result in a high-quality, consistent product with significantly more harvests than outdoor conventional production methods. Other advantages of controlled environmental agriculture include uniform, year-round production, potentially pesticide-free agriculture and greatly reduced land and water requirements.
“Controlled environment agriculture responds to consumers’ growing demand for locally sourced, chemical-free produce grown through environmentally sustainable practices and technology, By controlling the growing environment, we can ensure that the ideal amounts of light, nutrients, water, temperature and other variables are maintained for a robust, healthy product with extended shelf life and quality. It is also harvested multiple times during the year, compared to a single growing season with traditional agriculture.”– Dr. Scott Lowman, Vice President of Applied Research at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) and Co-Director of the CEA Innovation Center
