Grant: Alliance Grants

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is an artificial system that creates favorable conditions and protected/controlled environments to grow plants. CEA facilities, including greenhouses and indoor vertical farming, enable plant growth at times and locations that otherwise would not be possible due to unfavorable climate and weather conditions, pests, diseases, and resource scarcity. Compared to traditional farming, CEA offers significant advantages: as weather patterns become increasingly unpredictable due to climate change, CEA offers a reliable alternative to ensure a stable food supply, improve food security and support local economies; CEA provides higher crop yields by optimizing growing conditions and helps address food shortages in cold climates; CEA practices minimize the use of water, fertilizers, and pesticides, leading to improved environmental performance; using renewable energy sources in CEA facilities can significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and CEA can be implemented in urban environments, such as rooftop gardens and vertical farms, reducing the need of transporting food over long distances and contributing to a more sustainable food system. It is predicted that CEA will grow 18% annually between 2020 - 2027 in Canada and will grow from $5.5 billion in 2020 to $20 billion in 2025 globally. This proposed research program focuses on sustainable, profitable, and net-zero controlled environment agriculture (SPAN-CEA) in cold climates and aims to reduce GHG emissions, improve controlled environment performance and energy efficiency, and achieve profitable CEA production and enhanced food security and self-sufficiency. The research program includes five themes: 1) renewable energy integration and management; 2) energy efficiency, environment control, and plant growth optimization; 3) water resource and root zone health management; 4) socio-economic and behavioral research; and 5) science and evidence based decision support framework. Our multidisciplinary team will collaborate with various partners (CEA growers, manufacturers, and municipalities) to develop innovative advanced CEA technologies and practices.