b'There will always be a place forbest option with the production technol-research on major and minor crops.ogy to meet the expectations for the Its just about deciding when a speciesproduction quantity, quality, consumer cannot be grown in a certain area andand market.needs to be replaced by one that can,Every agricultural system has costs Leddin says.associated with it for capital investments Economics does this. As a crop is inand operations, and these depend on more demand, research increases. Sometechnology selected, environmental outreach organizations try to kickstart thecontrol strategies, expected production research process in developing countriesoutcome and other factors, Kacira says. where minor crops that thrive could beResource use efficiency, defined as yield the difference between a farm that thrivesoutput per resource input, must be the and one that dies. metric when considering and comparing I tell farmers that the best insurancevarious production approaches, technolo-against climate change is having diversitygies, and strategies for economic viability. in species. If one fails, then another mightNeal Barto, research specialist at survive, Leddin says. Yields of manythe Controlled Environment Agriculture of the minor crops are low, and throughCenter, prefers greenhouses over verticalGene Giacomelli.breeding, we can make good gains toagriculture for that reason, although he improve these to make them economical. sees a place for both. A vertical farm would make perfect Indoor Ag Brings Controlled- sense for a vacant warehouse in a con-Climatesgested area devoid of fresh produce, for Sustainably feeding a growing populationexample, Barto says. in the midst of climate change and otherAgain, its about balancing the bottom global challenges requires innovativeline with the benefits. thinking and out-of-the-box approaches.Viraj Puri, co-founder and chief execu-But when faced with this substantial goal,tive officer of Gotham Greens, believes growers and researchers often start togreenhouses shine by bringing produc-look inside the box, or inside the buildingtion closer to consumers. at least.Greenhouses allow us to grow a reli-Goal No. 12 says: Ensure sustainableable and safe supply of fresh produce consumption and production patterns,all-year-round using less water and less which may mean looking closer at indoorland compared to conventional farming, agriculture options that help bring pro- Puri says. At the same time, retailers and duction closer to consumers. foodservice operators are increasinglyMurat Kacira.Gene Giacomelli is a biosystemsrecognizing the reliability, consistency engineering professor at the Universityand premium quality of a produce supply of Arizona (UA) and the former andthat is possible with crops grown under founding director of the Controlledprotected cover.Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC).Puri believes that freshness is one He is a fervent believer in controlledmajor greenhouse benefit.environment agriculture, but he knowsFor many parts of the country, its the only way it can become a successfuldifficult to get fresh, local produce all year business is if the crop has a sale price thatround, he says, mentioning that 95% of allows companies to make a profit. lettuce grown in the United States comes Think about salable production perfrom California and Arizona. unit area of growing space, kilogram perThe close proximity of our green-square meter [kg/m2]. Then think abouthouses to our customers eliminates salable production per unit of resourcesthe need for long-distance refrigerated added during the growing period, such astransportation while improving our prod-water, electricity, labor and other inputs,uct quality, he says. Less time in transit Giacomelli says.means fewer wilting leaves and food Murat Kacira, professor of biosystemswaste.engineering at UA and director of theIn addition, this model has some note- Viraj Puri. CEAC, notes that its about selecting theworthy benefits to the companys overall 52/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2020'