At Bowery, they refer to the environmental conditions that plants need to flourish as “crop recipes.” Traditionally a farmer would focus on seeds, fertilizer, season & location of the farm itself.
Indoors, without typical outdoor weather conditions, can include an entirely new set of granular factors: spectra of light, photoperiod (day/night cycles), intensity of light, irrigation schedules, nutrients, airflow, temperature, humidity, and CO2. Farmers control these variables and can adjust them hour by hour (or even minute by minute) to optimize for plant health and, ultimately, flavor.
The largest indoor urban farm in North America is located in Newark, New Jersey. AeroFarms is inside a building that housed a former steel mill. This farm uses 95% less water than a conventional farm and provides about 30 harvests of leafy vegetables per year for every square meter of crops. https://boweryfarming.com/vertical-farming
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