Is CEA-Grown Produce REALLY Better For You?
August 18, 2019
Joe Swartz
Vice President/Lead Horticulturalist at AmHydro
I get this question a lot.
More than you might think!
Strong opinions are plentiful.......and misinformation abounds.
As a lifelong farmer - one who has grown commercially using conventional field techniques, organic soil methods, as well as Controlled Environment ("CEA") technologies, I hope to shed a bit more light on the subject. Maybe you'll like what you hear, maybe you won't. But in either case, I'd love to hear from you.
In recent years, the general public has been inundated with media stories about the various Controlled Environment Agriculture ("CEA") technologies. Stories of monumental financial investments and "futuristic" growing technologies seem to have permeated every news cycle and public interest storyline. A quick online search of terms such as "food miles," "climate change," "sustainability," or "urban farming" will likely fill your screen with headline after headline about the latest quest to produce more and better quality food. In fact, if that weren't true......you'd likely not be reading this now.
"Indoor food factories? Shipping container farms? Automated greenhouses? Outdoor fields?..........So what really does grow the best food for myself and my family?"
The simple fact is this:
Whether a crop is grown using CEA techniques in a greenhouse, outdoors in a field, or on the Moon, for that matter, is NOT what will determine it's nutritional value.
The actual nutritional content of any crop is simply a function of 3 basic parameters -
3 and only 3!
They are:
- 1. The particular crop/cultivar - Every plant has a genetic predisposition and physiology - the grower has control of external parameters, but not the internal ones.
- 2. The physical environment the plant was grown in - This is either supplied by nature and/or the grower and includes light quantity and quality, temperature, humidity/ VPD, C02 levels, air movement, etc etc)
- 3. The nutritional/microbial environment available to the plant's root zone - This includes not only the nutrients readily available to the plant, but also root temperature, pH, dissolved Oxygen and the beneficial microbial life in the root zone. This microbial flora is constantly stimulating plant growth, metabolizing waste products, breaking down chemical compounds, and inhibiting harmful pathogens. People tend to underestimate the importance of managing the rooting environment and developing and maintaining these microbes.
That's it! Nothing more and nothing less.
However, even a slight deviation (be it a natural occurrence of an error in your growing) can have HUGE consequences in your crop performance.
This is why many high value producers are moving into using Controlled Environment Ag (“CEA”) growing techniques. CEA allows them to produce crops that are undoubtedly more nutritious and flavorful than many of their conventionally grown counterparts. The ability to optimize these 3 factors is unmatched in appropriate CEA growing techniques - mind you, there are some amazing growers out there on conventional farms, growing fantastic and nutritious food too!
Proper design and application make all the difference in the world!
Using CEA, we can select appropriate varieties (selected for taste and nutrition, rather than the ability to ship thousands of miles and sit on supermarket shelves for days!), provide a near-perfect growing environment, and manage both nutrition and biological activity in the root zone to a very high degree. This also underscores the need to utilize APPROPRIATE CEA technologies! Greenhouse hydroponic, indoor vertical, shipping container farming and more are NOT created equal! Each situation is different, so the choices of the correct technologies are of critical importance.
So, when I am asked, "Is CEA-grown produce really better for you?" I always answer - "It's not quite as simple as that." However, when considering the above-mentioned factors, it is certainly MY preferred method to grow the highest quality, most nutritious and best tasting produce.
There are many ways to grow nutritious, healthy, and sustainable food. This is just one of the many great techniques we use. The more that we can do to support and nurture the PLANT........the better that it will provide for US!
Joe Swartz
VP AmHydro Joe @Amhydro.com
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Published by
Joe Swartz Vice President/Lead Horticulturalist at AmHydro - 35 years as Controlled Environment Ag Consultant and Commercial
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