Discussions about indoor agriculture — also often referred to as controlled environment agriculture (CEA) — frequently focus on how vertical farms can boost local food production in or near urban settings. A new report from pan-European collective EIT Food, exclusively shown to AFN, notes that while this is certainly true, there is also an increasing amount of greenhouse production in rural and semi-rural settings. The latter set of systems is “advanced and a critical part of our food system.”

The report highlights findings from a consultation EIT Food did in collaboration with Innovate UK KTN. The findings specifically focus on North-West European countries Iceland, Ireland, and the UK. These are island nations where the climate is not suitable for year-round outdoor food production, so CEA systems enable these regions to produce out-of-season crops.

EIT Food’s definition for CEA includes “a broad range of semi- and fully-closed systems, from greenhouses through to vertical farms.” The report stresses that many of those interviewed for it were “keen to point out that CEA should not refer exclusively to ‘high-tech’ production.” Greenhouses and even hoop houses have long been considered part of the CEA landscape.

With more rural producers looking to add or replace traditional outdoor farming with CEA operations, there’s a compelling case for more greenhouses in these settings, says EIT Food.

The report lists several benefits to locating CEA systems in rural or semi-rural locations in the North-West Europe region:

The biggest barrier to more CEA in rural parts of North-West Europe is accessibility to labor, key transportation routes and markets.

Despite these challenges and others, EIT Food’s general outlook for rural CEA is largely positive. Many of the barriers here are a reflection of an early-stage industry and will likely change with time:

“As the community grows, it is reasonable to expect that the pool of experienced labour will also grow and that supply chains will become more developed,” notes the report. “There are also steps that can be taken in the near-future (e.g. organisation of rural vertical farms into cooperatives) that could address some of the potential barriers identified.”