Plant Factory Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Adoption of AI in modern agriculture: AI technology has entered the field of indoor farming by improving crop health checks, feeding and climate regulation. In February 2024, the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) launched Smart Agri Plant Factory, which combines hydroponics, AI nutrient systems, and precision lighting for better crop yield quality. This facility enhances magnesium concentration in plants especially for magnesium glycinate supplements production. Artificial intelligence in agriculture also helps in having a consistent yield, low costs for labor, and better utilization of resources. For this reason, the ability to regulate nutrients in real time makes it a suitable technology for functional food manufacturing.
• Achieving food security and sustainable production: The interest in localized indoor farm production has been boosted by the growing urban population and climate change impacts, which reduce food transport pollution. In September 2024, Urban Crop Solutions installed the first vertical farming tower at Agrotopia, with both artificial and sunlight for crop production all year round. They use limited water, improve crop quality, and offer fresh and locally grown crops to the plant factory market. Agriculture indoors is suitable for the growth of crops that are rich in magnesium to make up for the nutrient deficiency of supplements. With increasing pressure on governments to adopt sustainable agriculture, vertical farms are proving to be crucial to feeding cities.
• Increased funding in vertical farming technologies: Governments and private investors are investing more capital into vertical farming to improve food production and agriculture. In February 2024, Oishii raised USD 134 million to scale up high-density indoor farming, which shows great confidence in controlled environment agriculture. Capital investments are being made towards the development of automated plant factories for the production of nutrient-dense crops, such as magnesium-containing plants for supplement production. By minimizing the area and water usage, these facilities support the sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture. The use of robotics, artificial intelligence, and smart lighting in vertical farms makes production to be efficient, productive, and cost effective.

Challenges

• High energy consumption in indoor farming: Plant factories that use artificial lighting consume a lot of energy, as a result, they are costly to run and unsustainable. The use of LED and climate control systems on a large scale contributes to carbon emissions. Thus, there is a need for energy-efficient products. Ministries and scholars are looking at solar farms and energy recovery systems to reduce electricity usage. Limiting dependence on non-renewable sources of energy is still a major issue in the expansion of plant factories around the world.
• Lack of consumer confidence and knowledge: Although the adoption of indoor farming has many advantages, consumer knowledge and acceptance of hi-tech farming are still low in many parts of the world. There is a strong link between fresh produce and traditional farming, hence making it a challenge to plant factory market crops grown through vertical farming. It is therefore crucial to increase awareness of the public by informing them on the nutritional values of the produce, the absence of pesticide usage in plant factories and the sustainable nature of this form of farming. Supermarkets, food brands, and supplement manufacturing companies are working with indoor farmers to enhance the acceptance of the products by the consumers.