Indoor farming becomes decade's hottest trends, millions invest globally

Indoor farming has become one of the hottest trends in the past 10 years. According to the Union Bank of Switzerland report, food and agriculture innovation have marked remarkable amounts of investor capital in recent years and is expected to become a $700 billion market by 2030. A lot of money is being invested globally in indoor urban farms because of their accountability to produce more food with less impact. Dozens of large scale projects have been launched in Dubai, Israel, the Netherlands, and other countries.

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Indoor farming may be hampered in US by high start-up costs

But, it may be hampered in the US by high start-up costs, high urban rents, and lack of safety net in a food system that is highly dependent on subsidies. Trump administration announced in September that it would go back to the Obama era energy-saving measures that would have effectively eliminated the standard pear-shaped incandescent variety. This move is expected to lower the demand for LED bulbs which lasts longer and consumes less electricity as compared to any other type. The new move to be effective from January is being fought by 15 states and a group of environmental and consumer groups that claim the changes will contribute to climate change and raise consumers' energy bills. According to Irving Fain, chief executive of Bowery Farming, indoor urban agriculture is a threat to scalability and profitability. The indoor vertical farming company has raised funds of about  $122.5 million from celebrity chefs Tom Colicchio, Jose Andres and Carla Hall, Amazon worldwide consumer chief executive Jeff Wilke and Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi.

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Department of Energy's proposal

Some indoor farms stack plants vertically to the ceiling in shipping containers or enormous warehouses and the plants' photosynthesis is achieved via high-tech light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. According to Fain, the US Department of Energy's proposed reversal of energy efficiency standards could hamper the emerging agricultural sector. Indoor vertical farming became economically viable when LEDs became popular, cheap and efficient. Previously, indoor growing lights produced an enormous amount of heat. After the passage of energy legislation bill in 2007, the Department of Energy ruled that the general lightbulbs must emit at a minimum efficiency of 45 lumens per watt by the beginning of 2020. Incandescent bulbs and halogen do not basically meet the efficiency standard.

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