Performing Department
Horticulture & Landscape Architecture
Non Technical Summary
Starting young plants in vertical indoor propagation (VIP) systems using indoor farming technologies has the potential to reduce shrinkage, cut down cropping cycles, and improve plant uniformity and quality during greenhouse finishing. However, unknowns existabout energy requirements and environmental setpoints to optimize rooting, growth, and quality of young plants indoors, all of which are needed to determine economic viability of VIP systems. This research and outreach project will address the following objectives:1. Model energy requirements for VIP systems.2. Develop recommendations to reduce shrinkage and improve young-plant growth in VIP systems, focused on evaluating light quantity, quality, and substrate temperature.3. Assess economic feasibility of VIP.4. Engage stakeholders using a variety of information delivery methods.Our outreach plan includes collaborative activities with commercial growers at four facilities where we will collect data for energy model validation, testing control algorithms for mist irrigation, and gathering information about the economic feasibility of VIP. We will also disseminate research-based information through various outreach methods, including articles, presentations, and training materials.
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
80%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Our long-term goal is to develop and promote scalable approaches that will enable widespread use of indoor farming technologies to improve greenhouse propagation processes. Our central hypothesis is that different types of young plants can be economically produced using cost-effective VIP systems. Our specific objectives are:Model energy requirements for VIP and greenhouse propagation facilities.Develop recommendations to reduce shrinkage and improve young-plant growth.Assess economic feasibility of VIP.Engage stakeholders through a comprehensive outreach programOur approach involves a well-coordinated research and outreach collaboration that integrates expertise in engineering, horticulture, and economics. Our research efforts will help growers make data-driven decisions to reduce shrinkage during propagation while improving young plant growth, quality, and economic profitability [Objectives 1, 2, and 3]. This is complemented by our outreach efforts (Objective 4) that will enable us to transfer research-based knowledge to stakeholders across the U.S. Our four objectives were developed in response to stakeholder priorities identified by our team in a USDA-funded planning grant project (Gibson et al., 2020).
Project Methods
The main components of Objective 1 are to: 1a) develop energy input/output models for VIP and greenhouse propagation facilities that enable analyses under varied assumptions to support cost estimation under different scenarios (see Obj. 3); 1b) conduct a set of validation tests using data collected at two commercial grower sites to assess the accuracy of these models; 1c) develop a spreadsheet-based decisions support tool for energy and water use estimation during propagation in different climatic regions; and 1d) develop operation management recommendations for VIP and greenhouse propagation facilities, aiming to improve energy and water use efficiency.The main components of Objective 2 are to: 2a) conduct experiments characterizing responses or unrooted cuttings (URC) and tissue culture explants (TC) to different environmental conditions in VIP, primarily focused on evaluating effects of light intensity, quality, and substrate temperature ; 2b) finish and calibrate the plant-scale PropET model based on equations developed by others (Faust and Heins, 1998; Zolnier et al., 2000, 2001a, 2001b, and 2003) to model the effect of a range of variables (radiation, convection, VPD, leaf temperature, air speed, and plant stage) on water loss of a tray of young plants (i.e, ET); and 2c) combine results to develop control algorithms for climate-based, dynamic mist irrigation management in both VIP and greenhouse propagation facilities. For this purpose, we will first program new control algorithms into research-scale VIP and greenhouse environmental control systems, aiming to quantify water volume applied and determine duration of mist events. After finetuning, we will work with two environmental control system companies (Argus and Priva) to program the newly developed algorithms into environmental control systems that will operate mist irrigation equipment at four commercial propagation facilities, two with both VIP and greenhouse propagation and two with just greenhouse propagation compartments but with experience using prototype light carts.The main component of Objective 3 is to identify base economic model parameters for propagation using an economic-engineering approach, to estimate initial capital investment (CapEx), production costs (COGS), and product prices for greenhouse and alternative VIP models (retrofitting existing space or building new custom-made VIP facilities). We will use partial budget-modeling procedures to measure costs and potential benefits of short-run changes in cultural practices using VIP. Ultimately, we will develop scenarios in which we combine multiple variables and practices to explore synergies that will be integrated into a spreadsheet-based decision-support tool to estimate COGS, CapEx, OpEx, and ROI for retrofitting existing space or using new custom-built VIP facilities.The main components of Objective 4 are to 4.1a) collect environmental, energy, water use, and economic data at four grower sites [two with both VIP and greenhouse propagation facilities and two with only greenhouse propagation compartments; 4.1b) test new climate-based mist control algorithms programmed into environmental control systems at commercial grower sites; and 4.1c) interview growers to quantify potential costs and benefits of using VIP compared with greenhouse propagation facilities. We will also develop and disseminate research-based information resources to showcase profitability, applications, benefits, and challenges of adopting VIP systems while reducing perceived complexities of CEA technologies. This information will be developed and shared throughout the lifespan of this project, as validated results become available. We will use traditional outreach methods including a combination of research-based production recommendations, scientific and trade articles (including case study grower articles), face-to-face and virtual presentations, and spreadsheet-based tools for energy and economic assessments.