Massachusetts Grower Now Controls over 50% of North America's Indoor Lettuce Market
Little Leaf Farms, a Devens, Massachusetts greenhouse grower, now commands more than half of North America’s indoor lettuce market. The company achieved this share by emphasizing disciplined operations, energy efficiency, and strong unit economics rather than chasing rapid tech expansion. Its approach earned a spot on Fast Company’s 2026 World’s Most Innovative Companies list. The milestone signals a shift toward sustainable, scalable indoor agriculture.
Japanese Companies Join Forces to Power Strawberry Growing
Sumitomo Corporation has formed a capital and business alliance with HarvestX, the developer of the world’s first robot that automatically pollinates strawberries. The AI‑driven robot uses 3‑D imaging to identify flowers and consistently exceeds a 90% pollination success rate, far...
UK: Margate Entrepreneur Launches Microgreens Operation Supplying Local Restaurants From Indoor Unit
Vanessa Leppard, a 33‑year‑old former food‑industry professional, launched Margate Microgreens in a repurposed indoor unit in Margate, UK. The vertical farm grows pea shoots, red radish and broccoli garnishes using LED lights and heat mats. Within its opening week the...
US (WI): Vertical Growing Finds Life Amidst Market Struggles
Vertical farming once attracted billions of dollars, yet many large indoor farms have collapsed, as highlighted by a recent New York Times report. In Wisconsin, however, Grow Space Vertical Farms, founded by Robert Carlson and his family three years ago, is thriving...
“Managing the Full Water Cycle Starts with Water Quality for the Crop and Continues with Reusing Water Whenever Possible"
Italian greenhouse specialist Vifra has expanded its climate‑control portfolio to include ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) water‑treatment systems, enabling growers to purify diverse water sources and recycle nutrient‑rich irrigation water. The company stresses that UF removes viruses, bacteria and...
US (TX): Houston Farmer Teaches Marginalized Communities to Grow and Sustain Themselves
CC Brooks, Houston’s only Black and gay hydroponic farmer, founded The Metallic Sunflower Foundation to teach hydroponic techniques to marginalized groups. Leveraging his experience running markets at Pearl Bar, he recognized the food insecurity facing the city’s trans community. Brooks...
CEA Alliance Welcomes New 2026 Members
The CEA Alliance announced eight new members for the first quarter of 2026, including its inaugural mushroom grower, Windmill Farms, and several growers of leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens. New supplier members such as Blackmore/Ellepot USA, Ceres Greenhouse Solutions, Green...
Pilot Initiative to Test Transparent Solar Films in West Africa
UK‑based NextGen Nano announced a £300 million agrivoltaics pilot in West Africa using its PolyPower™ transparent organic solar film. The project will integrate climate‑controlled greenhouse cultivation of nutrient‑dense crops such as amaranth and moringa with on‑site electricity generation to power cooling,...
"We Are Now at the Point Where We Have Multiple Promising Lines and Are Narrowing Them Down"
University of Florida researchers, backed by a $500,000 USDA‑NIFA grant, are close to delivering lettuce varieties that resist bacterial leaf spot. By tapping a rare Macedonian lettuce that naturally fights the disease, the team has generated hundreds of breeding lines...
"Time to Show Us More"
Albers Alligator, a Dutch specialist in manure storage and water‑covering solutions, has joined the greenhouse technology association AVAG during its 125th anniversary. New owners Michael van der Windt and Lennard Blijdorp, who took over in 2024, aim to raise the company’s profile...
Improving Energy Efficiency for Vertical Growers
A Korean research team built a nine‑month time‑series dataset from a real‑world vertical farm and applied machine‑learning models to optimise operations. XGBoost delivered the lowest prediction error, beating rule‑based forecasts by roughly 17‑18% and moving‑average methods by 12‑13%. The model’s...
Singapore: Growers Face Pressure From Rising Energy, Fuel Costs
The war in the Middle East has pushed fertilizer, fuel and transport costs sharply higher for Singapore farms. Vegeponics Farm warns its fertilizer stock will last only six months, with prices set to rise further if the conflict continues. Delivery...
US (NV): RHS Students Enjoy ‘Trout in the Classroom’ with Aquaponics System
Robertson High School in Nevada launched a Trout in the Classroom program, introducing 30 rainbow trout into an on‑site aquaponics system. FFA students, guided by agriculture educator Mabelle Roybal, have been raising the fish since January, handling daily feeding, temperature monitoring,...
"Polyhouse Growers and First-Time Hydroponic Entrepreneurs Make up the Bulk of Our Customer Base"
India’s protected‑cultivation sector is fueling a 15‑20% annual rise in coir substrate demand, with polyhouse growers and first‑time hydroponic entrepreneurs forming the core of Biogrow Substrates’ client base. The company reports stable raw‑material costs but notes freight volatility, driven by...