Greenhouses and vertical farms

from Earth to Mars

Leo Marcelis

Chair Horticulture & Product Physiology

Wageningen University, Netherlands. Leo.Marcelis@wur.nl

History: wall glasshouses and frames

First half of 20st century

cucu

grapes

cucumbers

Modern greenhouses

Ever increasing control of production

Production in greenhouses

30 years:

Yield doubled in tomato

Where is the limit?

Doubling possible!

0

20

40

60

80

100

1980 1990 2000 2010

Yie

ld (

kg m

⁻²yr⁻

¹ )

Year

Tomato +113%

Sweet pepper +90%

Cucumber +35%

Greenhouse is key factor

to minimize water use

0

20

40

60

Israel &Spain, field

Spain,unheated

plastic"parral"

Israel,unheated

glass

Spain,unheated"parral",

regulatedventilation

Holland,climate-

controlledglass, CO2enrichment

Holland, asat left, withre-use of

drain water

Holland,"closed"

greenhouse

Wate

r u

se

(lit

re p

er

kg

to

mato

)

From Stanghellini

Many new possibilities with LED

Energy efficient:

● HPS: 1.8 mmol/J

● LED: up to ±3 mmol/J

Spectrum

Direction (position)

Timing

No NIR

Hardly heat radiation

Full control production process

Limited area

Anywhere

Independent of environment

Sustainable, but needs lot of electricity

Guarantee on quantity and quality

2-3 times higher costs

LEDs opens opportunities for vertical

farming

How sustainable is vertical a farm?

No pesticides (ultimate hygiene, disinfection)

Very little nutrient use

Extreme limited water use

● E.g. tomato

● Open field: 60liter / kg

● Modern greenhouse 17 liter /kg

● Vertical farm: few liters / kg

Extreme limited land use

Less transport

Less food waste

Energy use needs tremendous effort

10

Example of controlling growth

Effect of adding Far red to Red+Blue LEDs

0 50 112 150 End of Daymmol m-2 s-1 Far red

Kalaitzoglou et al., unpublished

Kalaitzoglou et al., unpublished

Solar spectrum (plasma lamp), partly replaced by blue LED

Total intensity (100 mmol m-2 s-1)

`

0% Blue 5% Blue 30% Blue 50% Blue

Example of controlling growth

Effect of blue light

21 days after harvest

13 days after harvest

Plants grown under different conditions

At harvest

Light intensity

High (500) Medium (240) Low (50)

Light on tomato fruit more vitamin C

0

12

24

36

48

Vit

am

in C

(mg/1

00 g

FW

)

Dark Light

Light (300 mmol m-2 s-1) compared to darkness

From: Ntagkas et al, unpublished

Foto NASA

From Solheim & Omdal, Prototech, Norway

From: Wieger Wamelink

Mars soil, Moon soil, or no soil?

Conclusions

From greenhouse to vertical farm

● Full control of production and quality possible

● Sustainable, but energy is still a challenge

● We van learn from space and vice versa

19

Greenhouse summer school: 27 Aug – 7 Sept

Postharvest course: 9-12 Oct

3-days Course on lighting: Feb 2019

WWW.HPP.WUR.NL

Thank you for

your attention !