Trends, Insights, and Future Prospects for Production in Controlled Environment Agriculture and Agrivoltaics Systems

Investments in alternative food production systems by public and private entities have increased in recent years. Two systems, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and agrivoltaics (AV), have been highlighted for their potential to provide socioeconomic benefits beyond food production. CEA is the use of enclosed structures—including hydroponic and vertical farming structures—for growing crops, primarily specialty crops. CEA may provide access to local production of nutritious food in communities that lack space for traditional outdoor production, improve access to local foods in urban areas, and serve as a potential tool for adapting to or mitigating climate change. The CEA sector is expanding in large part due to technological advancements. The number of CEA operations more than doubled between 2009 and 2019. Further, more than 60 percent of production for some prominent CEA crops (primarily vegetables) were grown using nontraditional technological systems in 2019. AV is the colocation of agricultural production and solar panels. AV may allow for expanded solar development to address climate change without land use conflicts associated with traditional large-scale solar developments. As of 2021, most AV sites were solar farms planted with pollinator-friendly vegetative cover that, in some cases, were grazed by sheep. Funding for research on a variety of AV systems with specialty crop and/or livestock production continues to increase.