Who will grow the future of controlled environment agriculture?
Source: VFD.com
It takes collaboration between growers, educators, Extension professionals and industry leaders. The session takes place September 15-16, 2026, from 9:30-10:15 AM at the IALR Conference Center in Danville, VA.
CEA Summit East is produced by Indoor Ag-Con and the CEA Innovation Center, a joint project between the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech and The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research For more information: Indoor Ag-Con Email: [email protected] www.indoor.ag Frontpage photo: © Arlette Sijmonsma | VerticalFarmDaily.com Publication date: Thu 2 Jul 2026 Related Articles → See More Dutch Minister visits South Korea to look for agricultural innovation partnership Who will grow the future of controlled environment agriculture? Belgium pulls off miraculous escape as Poland stays in World Cup top three Argentine Ambassador explores Singapore’s Greenphyto Harold van Mastwijk (Lehmann & Troost) breaks into the top three as Guido de Bruijn (Agrofair) holds on to the lead "This level of trust lets you implement innovations and genuinely learn from one another" Workshop to be held on vertical farming for UK food system resilience Myanmar: Applications open for women’s mushroom startup scholarships World Cup over for Japan, Germany and the Netherlands as Jose Juan Garcia Teruel closes in on Guido de Bruijn "We never say no, that's our claim to fame" Related Articles Dutch Minister visits South Korea to look for agricultural innovation partnership Who will grow the future of controlled environment agriculture?
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
