From The Packer: Forget ‘High-Tech’: Aim for ‘Right-Tech’ in CEA
From The Packer | September 2, 2025
Building profitable controlled environment agriculture means right-sizing technology to suit your environment and achieve your goals. And those goals should be focused on ROI, say industry experts.
When you hear the phrase “controlled environment agriculture” (CEA), what do you envision? Maybe a large commercial greenhouse? An indoor vertical farm with extensive lighting and HVAC? Perhaps a fully integrated container system where every system is controlled by a proprietary program?
Do you think of the humble high tunnel?
Perhaps you should. Depending on the setting and crop, it might be the perfect tech level for a profitable CEA operation.
“‘CEA’ typically refers to a fully enclosed environment where you’re trying to control every element within a building, but when people are trying to look at lower-cost solutions for different crops, it can include solutions that will be manipulating the outdoor climate to create a better environment,” says Richard Vollebregt, CEO of Cravo Equipment Ltd., a Canadian-based company that designs and builds retractable-roof houses for global agriculture, specializing in fresh produce.
“Anytime you are using manual or automated tools and systems to control the climate — be it a room or greenhouse or a hoop house — to either extend the season or to grow more profitably year-round, that’s controlled environment agriculture,” says Aaron Fields — CEO of Campo Caribe, a Caribbean-based hydroponic lettuce facility — who has grown in CEA operations in Texas and Puerto Rico as well.
Both Vollebregt and Fields — together with Chris Higgins, general manager of Hort Americas, a Texas-based CEA supplies provider — spoke during the most recent “Indoor Ag-Conversations” webinar, held Aug. 26. The focus was on what tech it takes to build a profitable controlled environmental agricultural system.
Right-sizing Technology
Higgins observes that growers, particularly CEA growers, are constantly being bombarded by new technology. Particularly in the CEA space — whether using the typical “high-tech” definition or the “low-tech” definition the panelists advocate — he stresses the need to think about the needs of the crop, the specifics of the growing location, and the needs of the market being served when it comes to technology.