2022 SPECIALTY CROP AUTOMATION REPORT
GREENHOUSE
Greenhouse structures are made primarily of transparent material, like glass or polycarbonate, that use natural light during the daytime. These structures are filled with equipment, including screening installations, HVAC, lighting and sometimes computer-controlled climate to optimize conditions, such as air temperature and relative humidity, for plant growth. Greenhouses have been around for decades, varying from semi-permanent structures like high tunnels using the sun as a lighting source to more permanent glass or polycarbonate structures using a mix of sun and artificial lights. Traditionally, greenhouses are constructed with larger land footprint and high ceilings. Recently, however, many greenhouse start-ups have emerged employing highly automated glass structures with heavier reliance on artificial lights. 1 Examples of these include AppHarvest, Gotham Greens and Little Leaf Farms. Higher automation leads to lower labor-intensive operations - traditional
greenhouse growers roughly employ two times the labor employed in emerging greenhouses. In terms of growing technology employed, the majority of greenhouses are hydroponic and soil-based, with some players using aeroponics and aquaponics 2 . Use of advanced technology enables greenhouse start-ups to provide consistent year-round supply along with driving relatively higher yields. This enables them to grow crops that are different from traditional greenhouse growers. Most traditional greenhouses grow fruit and vine crops in the U.S., whereas greenhouse start-ups are primarily focused on leafy greens, such as lettuce, arugula, chard and fresh-cut herbs. Greenhouses have high construction costs with glass structures being more expensive than poly- carbonate ones. A high-tech greenhouse, as is common for most emerging greenhouse start-ups, typically costs more than $1 million per acre 3 to construct. 4 5
1. State of indoor farming 2020 | artemis 2. Hydroponic is a growing technology where plants are grown in water-based mineral nutrient solutions in aqueous solvents. Aeroponics is a growing technology where plants are grown in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium and aquaponics is a system that couples aquaculture with hydroponics where nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to the plants. 3 This assumes the total structure footprint and not cultivation footprint 4 Appharvest secures 82 million to build eastern Kentucky greenhouse | Vegetablegrowersnews.com, May 2019 5 BrightFarms plans three new greenhouses | Grocerydive.com, February 2019
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