Reaping a Harvest a Day

This article reviews how agricultural facilities can harvest about two crops per year. The controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility is a hydroponic project that began operating in July 1999. It uses computer software to control lighting, environmental conditions, nutrient balance, water pH, and other parameters to create optimal lettuce-growing conditions. The agricultural facility’s story began 10 years ago, when a graduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca found that optimizing environmental conditions enabled him to grow seedlings for nurseries in 16 days, rather than the 35 days required by conventional agricultural nurseries. NYSERDA has conducted studies examining the total energy package of conventional agriculture, from producing seed to transporting vegetables to market, and found that northeastern controlled environment facilities will use less energy than shipping produce from the West Coast or South America. Growers also can tout the fact that their produce is grown without herbicides or pesticides, a major marketing advantage to attract consumers seeking organically grown produce.