Lessons from the nascent Controlled Environment Agriculture sector
Turning the page into the New Year brings many to conclude that change is needed, and indeed I have come to that conclusion myself. As I step back from my role as Chairwoman of FarmTech Society (FTS) I find myself reflecting on what was an exciting but also tumultuous year for many of our members and for the industry at large. The need for nutritional security, year-round production systems and indoor farming is unequivocal and the desire by many to expand the range of crops being grown indoors is an important step forward for the industry. As more energy and labour efficient measures are taken by growers and suppliers, the opportunities will expand alongside the economic shifts and shocks.
Having spent most of my life in welly boots or lab coats, what excites me is the intersection between traditional regenerative farming and technology. The true desire that many different farmers have for reducing pesticides, recycling inputs, reducing water consumption, enhancing biodiversity, and protecting resources used in both large-scale food production and small-scale farms looking to feed a few mouths. I also see hope and opportunity at this intersection for poverty-stricken nations and have long thought of indoor farming as a useful tool to grow nutritional food in regions of the world where the climate does not permit open field, continuous large scale food production systems. Critics will argue that the expense of indoor farming exceeds the reach and capabilities of these nations, but those critics fail to understand that education is the key to unlocking that productivity. Just as my father use to attend major farming shows only to go home and pick up his welder to reproduce and often improve whatever piece of equipment he had spent hours studying, these less wealthy nations will take what they need to make their own versions of technology enabled food production systems.
We learn from each other, and that is why I am so pleased to see FTS team up with partners like Learning Academy Worldwide, and others, securing grants to help and educate those in need of new ways to produce food in less fortunate regions of the world.
Farming is not and should not be composed of a series of siloed business, but rather is a mosaic of technology rich and technology poor methods of food production. We all need food, which means we all need to work together to produce that food. There is a continued healthy obsession with indoor farming which is both exciting and challenging. Keeping a consistent, clear, and factually correct narrative as to what can and cannot be achieved should be a stated goal of those in the indoor farming sector going forward and I hope to see a positive dialogue around this messaging.
In the meantime, and partly to cope with my rising climate related anxiety, I’m diving headfirst into new opportunities that help support the role that agriculture must play in being part of the solution to our collective climate crisis. Reach out if you share the same vision and in the words of FTS, “let’s grow together”.