Thriving Needs for New Ways to Cultivate Crops Is Likely To Foster The Controlled Environment Agriculture Market At 16.9% CAGR During 2019 & 2024
Global controlled environment agriculture market accounted for USD 57,656.6 Million in 2018 and is estimated to reach USD 1,42,222.6 Million in 2024, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.9% between 2019 and 2024.
Rising Global Demand for Food
The world’s population is expected to grow to almost 10 billion by 2050. It is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy the rising global demand for food in a sustainable manner. Due to this, in order to meet the food demand of an increasing population, the government and farmers are adopting more advanced farming techniques such as Hydroponics, Aeroponics, Aquaponics, soiled based and other hybrid methods.
The farmers are majorly growing leafy greens, tomatoes, cannabis, flowers, microgreens, strawberries, herbs, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, onions, leeks, hops, figs, sweet corn, eggplant, fish, insects, carrots, and shrimp. This rising popularity of controlled environmental agriculture techniques is resulting in an increase in the number of small and large indoor farms across the globe and these farms are also encouraging the consumption of other supplies such as nutrients, growing media, and others.
Loss of Agricultural Land
Land use across the globe is shifting from agriculture to urban and industrial uses. Changing climate has also resulted in lower production yields, loss of arable land and reduced resilience. Further, growing scarcities of natural resources have been encouraging the adoption of CEA since controlled environment farming an efficient way to produce more food with fewer resources than conventional farming, without being dependent on arable land availability and external climate conditions.
Strong Demand for Local Foods
Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Yet, the population living in urban areas are demanding locally grown foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, etc. CEA producers across the globe are setting up their production centers near to urban consumers to take advantage of this trend due to their proximity to urban centers. Other advantages of CEA such as the requirement of less time and expense in the transportation of crop products and better product quality are also expected to strengthen the growth of global controlled environment agriculture market in upcoming years.
Remarkable Advantages of CEA
Conservation of water and nutrients is one of the many advantages of controlled environment agriculture over conventional farming methods. These advanced farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and other soilless farming methods are effectively preventing wastage of water and overuse of nutrients. In a controlled environment, the plants have better health and faster growth, which reduces the need for pesticides and other supplements. Owing to their good health, CEA grown produces are noticeably better in both size and quality then soil-grown crops.
Barriers in CEA Market
The high cost of Nutrients used in Hydroponics
Although, CEA allows faster plant growth throughout the year, allowing larger yields. In order to do this, like any form of agriculture, CEA production is a high-risk, low margin enterprise. Establishing a CEA hydroponic vegetable operation requires considerable capital investment. Depending on the size of the operation and the level of technology involved, the investment can run into the tens of millions of dollars. This high required investment, high operating cost and high risks a huge challenge for growers and for the controlled environment agriculture market.
Lack of Awareness & Low Adoption Rate
The awareness regarding controlled environmental farming methods in underdeveloped countries is other countries which are restricting the growth of global controlled environment agriculture market. The dominance of traditional farming methods in low-income countries such as India is slowing down the growth of CEA market.
The need of skilled labors & Operational Complexity
CEA industry is witnessing a shortage of skilled labors, also the labor cost is considerably high in the case of hydroponics farming. The labor cost accounts for almost 15% of the total operation cost of hydroponics farming. Controlled environment agriculture requires great precision in monitoring. Growing in controlled environments and providing proper plant nutrition requires quality farm education. High level of operating complexity is also a major restraining factor in the growth of CEA market.