Smart Greenhouse – A Rising Trend in Indoor Farming Practices

Smart Greenhouse is a type of greenhouse that consists of a self-regulating, micro-climate controlled environment that is required for facilitating optimal plant growth. There are various conditions that need to be regulated within the smart greenhouse which so as to ensure optimal plant growth. These include a specific temperature that needs to be maintained inside the greenhouse, the humidity level, the moisture content if the soil s, which should be in perfect balance, and the intensity of the light or the amount of light required, which is also called luminosity. Consequently, there are different types of required sensors and components to facilitate the optimal setting and surveillance of these conditions that are temperature sensors, humidity sensors, luminescence sensors, and LED panels among other components.

There are various actuators and sensors that are used in the architecture smart greenhouse, which are connected to the Intel Edison or other software-based microcontrollers. The microcontrollers here are used in order to send the data collected and reive the commands from a data center that is hosted in a cloud service, such as AWS Cloud (Amazon Web Service). In addition, the users are free to interact with the Smart Greenhouse through a dashboard application. Voice commands can also be used as the different functions and operations in the greenhouse. There are some of the components that are essential to the architecture of the smart greenhouse, which includes Connected Greenhouse with Sensors and Actuators, Control Center, and User Interaction Devices.

Smart Greenhouse Market Trends

There has been a rise in the number of agricultural activities in order to increase the number of fruits and vegetables cultivated due to the burgeoning demand for the food and beverages owing to the increasing spending power of the individuals, which is attributed to their increasing disposable incomes. In addition, there has been increasing the number of awareness among farmers regarding the worsening conditions of soil, temperature, and humidity due to the climate change being caused by global warming, thus encouraging farmers to practice indoor farming, which has options to control different essential conditions. Thus, this increases the demand for smart farming solutions and boosting the smart greenhouse market growth over the forecast period.

 

 

The demand for smart greenhouses is attributed on account of improvement in overall productivity and the trend towards organic farming. Moreover, the presence of favorable government policies aimed at integrating Information and Technology based solutions with the agriculture industry will further boost the demand for these greenhouses and are contributing to increasing the smart greenhouses market size.

However, as a high initial cost for setting up a smart greenhouse, including the costs involved in the integration of IoT solutions and the maintenance costs associated as a hindering factor in the market growth.

Product Launches, Projects, and Partnerships by Market Players in Smart Greenhouse Market

Moreover, the market players are increasingly participating in the market to advance and enhance the products related to the smart greenhouses by integrating the latest technologies and encouraging the use of such products among the individuals interested in organic farming and indoor farming. Thus, they are involved in acquisitions, product launches, and projects in order to accelerate the development of the agricultural sector, thereby boosting their market position and contributing to increasing the smart greenhouse market size. For example, in December 2019, Integrated Systems Technology Service, which is a company dealing in the provision of service controls and automation, bases in New Mexico, announced that they have launched an updated version of their greenhouse centralized control systems and smart automation solutions in order to cater to the clients working in the agriculture sectors. The company provides solutions to different end-users including industrial, commercial, and residential in different US states. In March 2019, The Department of Agriculture announced that they have entered into a partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Korea Agency of Education in order to launch their Promotion and Information Service (EPIS).

This service is a smart service that is able to enhance the productivity and the production of high-quality tomatoes and is located in a compound at the Bureau of Plant Industry, which lies in the Guisad Valley. Their Smart Greenhouse Philippines Project has an estimated cost of around P122.29M, with the major share of 70% being held by the Government of Korea through KOICA and the reaming share through different private companies, based in Korea. In addition, there are a total of 8 greenhouses present inside the smart farming facility. In June 2019, KUBO, one of the leading companies involved in the provision of green technology solutions announced that they are launching there new project called the PYLOT. Under this project, a data platform that is related to horticulture is being launched and the plan combines studies and insights into the data flow in the greenhouses. It is able to read the data produced from different sources. In addition, another data platform is being launched that is able to collate all the greenhouse data such as information about heat, light, temperature, feed, energy, crop growth, and performance, which can be used in order to improve the harvest cycle and harvest plans. The information collected is sent to be stored in the cloud. Consequently, making the greenhouse operations and processes easier for growers or entrepreneurs.

Conclusion:

Currently, a different type of smart greenhouse solutions for use as crop growth and crop prices enhancers is expected to hold a significant share in this market and is anticipated to witness a fast growth rate in the upcoming years due to the burgeoning demand from the agricultural industry as well as the organic farmers.  With respect to current market trends, it is anticipated that the integration of AI and the application of 5G networks and better cloud storage and cloud computing features will allow smart greenhouses to flourish even more in the upcoming years with demand being generated owing to the rising awareness for controlled condition farming and organic agriculture. There is a growing need for a well-cultivated and good-quality fruits and vegetables. This is one of the major factors, which will continue to play a role in driving this market. In addition, it will attract many new entrants who will bring new and better changes and enhancement in smart greenhouses. Thus, the market will remain competitive in the upcoming years and it is projected to show modest growth in the upcoming years.