According to a market research forecast from Technavio, the global indoor farming technologies market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 20% from 2018 to 2022.

The increasing need for food security is one of the major trends being witnessed in the market. The need for food security has increased significantly due to increasing population around the world. Food security depends on access, availability, utilization and stability. In major cities, land is not easily available. Thus, indoor farming is one of the best options considered for such areas. People are shifting from rural to urban areas, thereby increasing the need for food in urban areas. This has been driving the need for food security. In the past, many cases of hunger, famine and food crisis have come up across the world. These issues have arisen because of several factors such as lack of arable land and food security.

In indoor farming, both small and large-scale crops are produced commercially using indoor farming technologies. Indoor farming is common in large cities where plots of land are not easily available. In large cities, indoor farming aids in boosting local food supplies and providing fresh produce to communities. The necessity to improve the yield of crops in these large cities is driving the growth of the global indoor farming technologies market. Indoor farms can produce more crops in a small area using various indoor farming technologies when compared with outdoor (soil-based farms) productions.

Farmers are dependent on various natural resources while producing plants using traditional methods. This has limited the total yield of crops. Apart from this, farmers have total control over the environment as various technologies used in indoor farming make farming easy. Nutrition and moisture levels, as well as the amount of light needed, can be maintained by farmers using various indoor farming technologies. Indoor farming technologies use artificial lighting to provide plants with the nutrients and light that they would only receive when grown outdoors.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for agricultural equipment, “LED lighting provides the perfect amount of heat needed for plants to grow. Furthermore, customized LED lighting assists the plants to grow up to two and half times faster than the traditional farming method, thereby increasing the overall yield. Furthermore, there is no crop wastage while packing or transporting using material handling systems as the technology uses conveyor systems for automated packing. This reduces the overall wastage and ensures the efficient use of crops.”

This market research report segments the global indoor farming technologies market by technology (grow lights and environment and climate control systems), by application (greenhouse farming and vertical farming) and key regions (the Americas, APAC and EMEA). It provides an in-depth analysis of the prominent factors influencing the market, including drivers, opportunities, trends and industry-specific challenges.

Of the two major applications, the greenhouse farming segment held the largest market share in 2017, accounting for more than 67% of the market. The market share for this application is expected to decrease by nearly 4% by 2022. However, this segment will dominate the market throughout the forecast period.

The Americas was the leading region for the global indoor farming technologies market in 2017, accounting for a market share of more than 38%. This region is anticipated to post significant growth during the forecast period owing to factors such as the growing focus of farmers on advanced technologies for smart farming, increasing income levels and yield rates and farm expansions.