b'Vegetables Reach to the Sky Through Indoor FarmingIndoor ag thinks outside of the box as demand for local food grows.Melissa ShipmanTO FEED A GROWINGglobalLettuce, for example, is often grown in population, we need to look outsideArizona or California and shipped approx-of the box, and that might mean we focusimately 3,000 miles to the East Coast. inside of the building.Since more than 98% of domestically Proponents say indoor farming offersgrown leafy greens come from California a solution to sustainable food produc- and Arizona, by the time it reaches other tion problems, even unlocking the keys tomarkets, it has lost quality, taste, nutri-growing food on Mars, but these are heftytional value, and shelf life, says Viraj Puri, goals that come with many challenges.co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens.Eric Stein, executive director ofDecentralized production helps pro-the Center of Excellence for Indoorvide consistency of pricing and reduces Agriculture and associate professor ofcarbon emissions from transportation Management Science and Informationacross the country, but it also reduces Systems at Penn State, says verticalfood waste.operations have the harder road to suc- Weve all had the package of lettuce cess by far. or strawberries in the back of the fridge Greenhouse growing is still indoors,that goes bad in what seems like just a but that technology is pretty muchfew days. If we dont have to ship those proven out and its growing faster. Thoseitems for 10 days after harvesting, thats large farms can have 10, 20 or even 50more time consumers have to eat them acres all under glass, Stein says.at peak ripeness, said David Nothmann, On the other hand, vertical growingchief operating officer of Unfold.operations are typically much smaller and harder to scale, sometimes 5,000-squareSpecialized Seedsfeet or less. All those benefits start with the right Were still trying to develop the indus- seed.try benchmarks to help farms understandWere building a predictive breeding how much labor, water and energy theyllplatform that utilizes accelerated artificial need to produce that head of lettuce.intelligence and data analytics to help Those kinds of things have to be veryus produce new genetics for an indoor closely managed if you want to be profit- farming customer in a faster manner, able in the long run, Stein says. Nothmann says. Unfold is currently focused on lettuce, Leading with Local spinach, tomato, pepper and cucumber, One of indoor farmings strongest wins isbut plans for expanding to other crops in bringing vegetable production muchare in the works as well. Yield is a require-closer to consumers.ment, but breeding can be differentiated 40/ SEEDWORLD.COMFEBRUARY 2023'