Controlled environment agriculture vs. conventional agriculture: the break-even point

This thesis assesses the feasibility of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), or vertical farming, in six Canadian cities. Using available literature, data from model-based simulations were extrapolated and analysed against the backdrop of local Canadian energy grids. Scenarios ranging from 6,173 kWhe per tonne of lettuce produced (Eaton et al., 2023) to 19,676 kWhe per tonne (Ohyama et al., 2020) were compared to the environmental impact of shipping one tonne of agricultural product from traditional farming hubs in the southern United States to assess a break-even point. The data were further extrapolated to assess the electrical cost of production per kilogram of lettuce produced. I found that CEA could be effectively leveraged as a climate mitigation tool in four out of the six studied cities, and was economically superior versus agricultural import in three given certain conditions.

Author dc:creator

• Crawford, Fergus

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Newman, Lenore

Identifier URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.25316/IR-19116

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.viurrspace.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Anull%3A10613%2F27429