USDA Funds Composition of New CEA Market Characterization Report

Resource Innovation Institute (RII) has assembled a senior level of its Technical Advisory Council to support its USDA-funded project titled Data-driven Market Transformation for Efficient, Sustainable Controlled Environment Agriculture. The new Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Leadership Committee, composed of a range of subject matter experts in CEA, will advise the development of a Market Characterization Report that will analyze the emerging “controlled environment” horticultural supply chain to determine opportunities to increase energy and water efficiency in cultivation.

“Market characterization is a critical first step in a coordinated effort to transform an economic sector toward efficient production,” said Derek Smith, Executive Director of Resource Innovation Institute. “This is the first such supply chain assessment in CEA. We appreciate these leaders for stepping forward to support this important effort.”

The Market Characterization Report represents the first publication that RII will deliver as part of its work on a three-year USDA Conservation Innovation Grant designed to advance resource efficiency in CEA, a diverse, expanding market that includes greenhouses and vertical farms growing a range of crops, from microgreens to tomatoes to berries. RII is partnering with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) to deploy the grant.

The CEA  Leadership Committee is providing input on key market characterization issues such as supply chain: describing key market actors, barriers to energy efficiency and the best leverage points for market interventions; energy use: describing the energy used by producers (including on-site renewable energy, microgrids, and back-up generation); advantages of efficiency; describing the energy and non-energy benefits realized through implementation of efficiency projects; and baseline identification: describing key market baselines to be used in evaluating the impact of the market transformation initiative over time.

The organizations represented on RII’s CEA Leadership Committee include:

• American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers

• American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers

• CEA Consultancy

• Ceres Greenhouses

• Energy Solutions

• Fifth Season

• Fluence by OSRAM

• Grodan

• Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

• Oregon Association of Nurseries

• Priva

• Resource Innovations

• Schneider Electric

• Signify

• UVM Extension Services

• Zartarian Engineering

For a complete roster, see www.ResourceInnovation.org/TAC. 

For more information:
Resource Innovation Center
www.resourceinnovation.org 

7 June 2021

While Everything Is Falling Apart, It Could Be Easy To Miss The Incredible Opportunities That Are Coming Together Right Now

Sky Sheridan Sky Farms

Take a look at the state of agriculture renaissance, with thousands of companies, and millions of people working toward food system transformation designed to sustainably feed 10B people, with 70% living in cities, using less energy, water, and waste, and reversing climate change.

Check out the awesome opportunities growing on with access to the CEA census provided by Agritecture Autogrow and global market reports by Forward Fooding and the United Nations

Some of the Numbers:

5.3k+ companies
$65B invested since 2010
$17B 2020 (up from $15B 2019) 42% CAGR
21% of funding went into AgTech and CEAs
5% went to digital services
48% to food delivery
Impact is being divided into five sustainable food action tracks - 10% Access, 35% Consumption, 40% Production, 5% Equity, and 15% Resilience aimed at innovative disruption.

Out of 300+ CEAs
40% were founded in the last two years
36% got funding from family and friends
35% from angel investors
80% were operating in indoor vertical farming
49% had no agriculture experience
46% were between ages 21-30
28% prefer using Coco Coir as a soilless growing medium
Largest crops microgreens, salad greens, leafy greens and herbs.

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USDA Grant to Support Cornell Indoor Ag Training Programs

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July 10, 2020

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: NEIL MATTSON, LEFT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE, WORKS WITH PH.D. STUDENT JONATHAN ALLRED TO COLLECT DATA FROM STRAWBERRIES GROWING IN THE GUTERMAN BIOCLIMATIC LABORATORY GREENHOUSE. view more | CREDIT: JASON KOSKI/CORNELL UNIVERSITY

ITHACA, N.Y. - Fueled by year-round market demand for local food and by advancements in greenhouse technology, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a rapidly growing field. In this intensive form of agriculture, plants are grown in a controlled environment, such as a greenhouse, to efficiently produce fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables.

However, commercial CEA requires advanced knowledge of both plant biology and complex infrastructure. And while New York state ranks fourth in the nation for CEA production value, the workforce hasn't been able to keep pace with industry growth.

Now, thanks to a $496,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), two horticulture experts at Cornell University will help design new CEA training programs to build a skilled workforce pipeline for the industry.

"Growers consistently state that finding well-trained personnel to operate their facilities is among the largest barriers to expansion," said Neil Mattson, associate professor of horticulture. "This project uses a targeted approach to determine what skill sets are most critical, and it develops several pathways for training - both for traditional college students and for the professional development of existing employees."

He and Anu Rangarajan, director of the Cornell Small Farms Program, will collaborate with industry leaders, Ohio State University and its Agricultural Technical Institute, and SUNY Broome Community College to develop a technical training certificate in CEA production. They also plan to create a two-year Associate of Applied Science degree for students enrolled in those schools and for other community colleges to integrate into their curriculum.

Participants will gain experience with CEA infrastructures, such as hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaculture. They will also develop advanced knowledge in environmental monitoring, pest management, food safety, and marketing skills.

Rangarajan already oversees numerous training programs and has spent the last five years working with commercial urban agriculture operations to better understand the key factors that influence farm viability. As part of the new project, she will lead the development of an online delivery platform for the new programming.

Mattson's current research includes using energy-efficient LED lighting for sustainable greenhouse production and studying the long-term viability of indoor urban agriculture. His role in the NIFA project involves collaborating with industry partners to develop the new learning modules.

In addition to supporting more local and sustainable food systems, Rangarajan said the work they've done thus far has been essential for learning how to provide more skilled-training opportunities for new farmers.

"Our efforts have laid the groundwork," she said, "for what I hope will be a dynamic training program that will build the workforce and elevate the industry as a whole."

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