Sustainable agriculture is an immediate priority for 21st century food production. Crop sustainability requires innovation in production and resource efficiency, while ensuring that food remains affordable for everyone.
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is the production of crops under protected environment by optimizing climate and inputs (water, feed, chemicals, energy, labor, etc.). The aim is to maximize crop quality and quantity, extend the growing season and reduce inputs such as water and pesticides. For decades, CEA has played a key role in securing reliable food production. However, major concerns exist around the sustainability of CEA in the 21st century, with increasing costs of labor and consumables (i.e., energy, fertilizer, polythene floor cover, string, transport, and packaging). These challenges need to be balanced with achieving net zero goals, increasing local biodiversity and sourcing sustainable packaging while maintaining delivery of a high-quality product.
To address these challenges, major efforts need to be put into action, both in the technology sector and in cultivation practices. Fortunately, decades of innovation made by pioneers in areas such as breeding, greenhouse infrastructure, energy, computer science and more have created the potential capacity to address the issues at hand.
Using CEA, the aim of this Research Topic is to look at new and sophisticated approaches, which can revolutionize the CEA to meet the sustainability concerns of the 21st century.
Multi-disciplinary approaches and novel technology can be used to improve CEA by optimizing cultural (nutrient solution, cropping duration, etc.) and environmental (light quality, quantity, temperature, etc.) factors to increase productivity and resource use. In this Research Topic, all articles focusing on the following nine main aspects of CEA are welcome, including:
1. Indoor (protected) crop production systems
2. Energy efficiency
3. Stress physiology
4. Environmentally friendly biostimulants
5. Management of nutrient use efficiency
6. Supplementary lighting
7. Breeding and genetics
8. Automation, AI, robotics and system control
9. Socioeconomics and policy
Sustainable agriculture is an immediate priority for 21st century food production. Crop sustainability requires innovation in production and resource efficiency, while ensuring that food remains affordable for everyone.
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is the production of crops under protected environment by optimizing climate and inputs (water, feed, chemicals, energy, labor, etc.). The aim is to maximize crop quality and quantity, extend the growing season and reduce inputs such as water and pesticides. For decades, CEA has played a key role in securing reliable food production. However, major concerns exist around the sustainability of CEA in the 21st century, with increasing costs of labor and consumables (i.e., energy, fertilizer, polythene floor cover, string, transport, and packaging). These challenges need to be balanced with achieving net zero goals, increasing local biodiversity and sourcing sustainable packaging while maintaining delivery of a high-quality product.
To address these challenges, major efforts need to be put into action, both in the technology sector and in cultivation practices. Fortunately, decades of innovation made by pioneers in areas such as breeding, greenhouse infrastructure, energy, computer science and more have created the potential capacity to address the issues at hand.
Using CEA, the aim of this Research Topic is to look at new and sophisticated approaches, which can revolutionize the CEA to meet the sustainability concerns of the 21st century.
Multi-disciplinary approaches and novel technology can be used to improve CEA by optimizing cultural (nutrient solution, cropping duration, etc.) and environmental (light quality, quantity, temperature, etc.) factors to increase productivity and resource use. In this Research Topic, all articles focusing on the following nine main aspects of CEA are welcome, including:
1. Indoor (protected) crop production systems
2. Energy efficiency
3. Stress physiology
4. Environmentally friendly biostimulants
5. Management of nutrient use efficiency
6. Supplementary lighting
7. Breeding and genetics
8. Automation, AI, robotics and system control
9. Socioeconomics and policy