CEA companies bring food production to the people

Four centuries after the advent of the agriculture industry in Virginia, the Commonwealth is again at the forefront of agricultural innovation.

Any discussion about Virginia peanuts needs to start with a clarification between Virginia peanuts and Virginia Peanuts. The lowercase former refers to peanuts grown in the Commonwealth; the capitalized latter is one of four peanut cultivars grown in the United States. If you’ve ever cracked a peanut out of a shell at a baseball game, that was a Virginia Peanut.

Labor shortages have long been a challenge in agricultural operations, spurring innovative new ways of operating. Today’s farms rely as much on GPS-guided technology and artificial intelligence-driven automation as they do on manual labor. However, these changes have created their own hurdles by demanding new skills of today’s agricultural workforce. 

Virginia universities and research institutions are leading the way to improve controlled environment agriculture in the Commonwealth and spur nationwide agricultural development.

As traditional methods of harvesting oysters started flailing, a family business turned toward innovative aquaculture to rebound oyster populations. 

The most advanced Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) operations are fully automated systems that deliver the exact environmental conditions required by specific plants, including the optimum temperature, humidity, and light levels. CEA operations can grow large amounts of produce while using significantly less water and land and eliminating the need for certain pesticides and fertilizers. VEDP spoke with CEOs from major CEA companies on how technological advancements will affect the future of the agriculture industry in Virginia and beyond.

When The Turman Group began focusing on exporting nearly 20 years ago, they saw the potential for new markets, increased sales, and improved resiliency with domestic economic issues, but also saw the potential downsides that come with opening up to new clients. When they hired someone to oversee exports in 2006, one of their first major projects was a VEDP trade mission to China.

This issue of Virginia Economic Review takes a deep dive into the controlled environment agriculture industry’s past, present, and future, while highlighting traditional agricultural operations in Virginia. Article highlights include:

Jay Lowell is a principal senior technical fellow at The Boeing Company, where he helps guide technical strategy and research implementation regarding disruptive emerging technologies.