As the world population grows, food demand grows alongside it. According to a report from Global Market Insights, the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) market will reach $168.7 billion in value by 2032. These numbers indicate that growing indoors will gain more traction over the next decade.
Climate change is a key driver of this growth, as it makes traditional farming challenging and unreliable.
In the U.S., certain fruits and vegetables can only grow in specific states year-round due to their required growing conditions. Take strawberries, for example. Approximately 90% of strawberries grown in the U.S. come from California due to its warm, sunny climate and fertile soil.
A strawberry shipped thousands of miles arrives with barely a week of shelf life left. And since that strawberry was harvested a week prior, it loses most of its flavor and ripeness before it even reaches the grocery store shelf.
The Case for Indoor Growing
Growing produce in greenhouses and indoor farms makes shelf life less of a concern.
When fruits and vegetables are grown locally, they’re typically harvested the day before—sometimes sooner. This means the crop in question will taste better, fresher, and last much longer.
Purchasing produce that’s past its peak is one of the largest contributors to food waste. As soon as lettuce starts to brown and wilt, it typically gets thrown in the trash. The longer it takes for lettuce to reach that point, the less food will go to waste.
This ties directly back to food miles, or the total distance food travels from the farm to the final consumer.
While vertical farming has plenty of promise, it has earned a polarizing reputation in the CEA industry.
Addressing the Elephant in the Room
CEA is leading the charge on local food production, but despite its potential, the industry hasn’t gotten good press in the last decade.
Growing food indoors—especially in vertical farms—is not easy or inexpensive. Unlike greenhouses, which use both sunlight and supplemental lighting, everything in a vertical farm is completely controlled.
Growers generate CO2 and lighting while controlling temperature and automation to match their crops’ specific growing needs. To get a vertical farm off the ground, it needs high capital investment from outside vendors. On top of that, operating costs are higher than greenhouses, high tunnels, and traditional farming. Combined, both of these factors have been the primary cause of 14 indoor farm bankruptcies in 2025.
Regardless of the bad press vertical farms have received in recent years, many CEA professionals still believe that this sector of the industry has a bright future.
“What’s emerging now is not a failed industry, it’s a filtered one,” Nona Yehia, co-founder and CEO of Vertical Harvest Farms, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “The question is no longer whether vertical farming can exist. The question is who is willing to build it properly, because the need is not theoretical.”
Choosing the Right Growing Media and Market
The need for greenhouses and vertical farms is undeniable. But the growers that succeed match the right crop to their growing environment. Commonly used growing media in CEA operations for the following crops include:
- Tomatoes: Rockwool, coir, organic peat-based media.
- Leafy greens: Rockwool, coir, peat-based media, deep-water culture.
- Strawberries: Rockwool, coir, peat-based media.
- Microgreens: Peat-based mixes, fiber mats.
- Cucumbers: Rockwool, coir, organic peat-based media.
- Mushrooms: Compost, peat.
- Peppers: Rockwool, coir, organic peat-based media.
But matching the crop to the right growing media and environment is only a piece of the puzzle. Choosing the right crop also means understanding the market it’s going to.
Take microgreens, for instance. Since it’s a high-value crop, microgreens primarily appeal to chefs and health-conscious consumers. Not every grocery store has a customer base willing to pay that premium, which means distribution decisions are just as important as growing media and environment.
Leafy greens, on the other hand, appeal to almost every consumer segment. By moving through grocery store chains and food service distributors in large volumes, leafy greens are the ideal crop for most indoor growing operations.
Strawberries shipped from California with a week-long shelf life aren’t going away any time soon. But when a greenhouse or vertical farm gets it right, those strawberries have more competition.
The future of food probably isn’t a field in California. It might be a greenhouse or a warehouse less than two miles from your grocery store.