Vertical farming has spent the past decade proving it can grow lettuce, herbs, and microgreens profitably indoors. Now a cohort of startups and agricultural research labs are pushing the model into territory long considered uneconomical: staple grains and legumes.
The catalyst is a step-change in LED efficiency. Third-generation horticultural LEDs from Signify and Samsung now deliver more than 4.0 micromoles of photosynthetically active radiation per joule, roughly double the figure from five years ago. At that efficiency, the energy cost per kilogram of grain drops below the threshold where indoor production can compete with field agriculture in regions with high land costs or water scarcity.
InFarm Staples, a Berlin-based startup, announced in March that its pilot facility produced its first commercial batch of indoor-grown wheat at a cost of $0.38 per kilogram, down from $1.20 in its 2024 trials. The company credits a combination of the new LEDs, robotic tray-handling systems that increased planting density by 40 percent, and a closed-loop water system that cuts consumption to 5 percent of conventional field irrigation.
Japan's Ministry of Agriculture has committed $200 million to a five-year research program focused on indoor rice production, citing the country's declining arable land and aging farming population. Early results from Chiba University suggest that certain short-cycle rice varieties can complete grain fill in 80 days under optimized light regimes, compared to 120-150 days in open fields.
Critics point out that energy remains the dominant cost even with improved LEDs, and that field agriculture benefits from free sunlight. "The economics only work in specific contexts: island nations, arid regions, or dense urban areas where land and water costs dominate," said Dr. Anna Berg of Wageningen University. "It's not a replacement for conventional farming; it's a complement."