The potentials of indoor farming for plant production
Heike Mempel, Ivonne Jüttner, Sabine Wittmann
Abstract
Abstract Plant production in indoor farming systems offers significant advantages compared to open field or greenhouse production systems. Especially in terms of quality and the ability for automation the system is superior to the conventional production systems. Concerning resource consumption indoor farming has considerable advantages in regard to water consumption and the use of pesticides. The main disadvantage is the high consumption of electrical energy. Taking advantage of the specific benefits or eliminating the disadvantages, for example by using renewable energies, different potentials and fields of application for indoor farming arise. The paper outlines the potentials and future fields of application of indoor farming considering the specific differences to conventional production systems related to resource consumption, quality and automation.