2022 SPECIALTY CROP AUTOMATION REPORT
STRAWBERRIES: VERTICAL FARM vs. OPEN-FIELD
An open-field farm with 27 acres growing organic strawberries in the Central Coast Region, California, is considered. It is assumed that the crop is planted in two- row, 12-inch configuration. Annual yield is assumed to be 7,000 carts/acre where one cart weighs eight pounds and consists of eight one-pound trays. The entire operation is expected to require 13 gallons/lb of water and 0.45 kWh/lb of electricity to produce 56,000 lb/acre of strawberries in a year. Transportation costs have been estimated assuming demand center locations at Chicago and New York. For the vertical farm, a 125,550 sq. ft cultivation footprint with a total of three levels is considered. The growing technology employed in the farm is a hydroponic gutter system with coco-noir substrate. The farm uses industry standard LED lighting which has a PPE of 2.6 mmol/j. The farm is expected to produce approximately
367,211 lb/acre per year, consuming 6.6 gallons/lb of water and 12 kWh/lb of electricity. Transportation costs have been assigned an industry standard assuming the farm is local – within 300 miles – to the urban demand center. Result: Per pound of produce, the total landed costs of vertical farm-grown strawberries is 3 times more than open-field strawberries (see Figure 7). Strawberries are labor-intensive crops and require energy-intense climate control and lighting to ensure optimal growing conditions. These cost factors along with overhead costs drive 90% of the total costs in a strawberry vertical farm. Consequently, strawberries grown in vertical farms produce 7 times the annual yield per acre, uses 50% less water and has 70% less transportation costs per pound of produce than in open-field growing. Vertical farm operations require 120 times more electricity per pound of strawberry grown compared to open field.
TOTAL LANDED COSTS FOR VERTICALLY GROWN STRAWBERRIES ARE 3 TIMES MORE FOR ORGANIC OPEN-FIELD GROWN STRAWBERRIES
Total landed costs [USD/lb, 2022]
Annual yield [lb/acre]
Open-field 27 acres California
Vertical farm 125,550 sq.ft <300 miles of Chicago/NYC
367,211
7X
Size of farm Location
56,000
Open-field
Vertical Farm
Total landed costs [USD/lb, 2022]
7.5
Water use [Gal/lb]
0.2 1.6 0.3 5.4
13
-50%
7
3 X
Open-field
Vertical Farm
2.4
0.6 0.1 0.3 1.4
Electricity use [kWh/lb]
12
Open-field
Vertical Farm
120X
0
Growing costs Overhead costs
Packaging costs TransportCost
Open-field
Vertical Farm
Source: UC Davis costs studies, Agriculture Consulting,Roland Berger Figure 7: Overview of strawberry cost structure – Open-field farming vs vertical farms
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