Drivers, barriers and grower perspectives of innovation adoption in the UK controlled environment agriculture sector

• Controlled environment agriculture is ideally placed to exploit novel technology. • There is little data on grower opinion and technology adoption rates. • We reviewed CEA global literature and surveyed UK CEA growers. • There is some alignment between research focus and industry requirements. • Some grower priorities were under-represented and barriers remain. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), which comprises both greenhouse and vertical farming, is a multi-billion-pound global industry contributing significantly to fruit and vegetable production. CEA allows growers to produce crops reliably in otherwise unfavourable climatic conditions and permits extended growing seasons. CEA is ideally placed to exploit the technological and digital revolution in agriculture for precision control of crop growth conditions, health, quality and yield. Despite the value of the sector, there is a paucity of data regarding drivers and barriers, adoption rates and grower opinion of implementing advanced technologies in commercial CEA production. We combined a Quick Scoping Review of global CEA technology literature comprising 3,679 primary studies with a Delphi study of UK CEA growers and technology providers (25 and 18 participants in rounds one and two, respectively) to determine CEA technology research focus, stakeholder priorities and concerns. Comparison of categorised technology types between these approaches was used to assess the degree of synergy between the two. This revealed a global CEA technology research focus on modelling/simulation, energy, lighting and sensors. Meanwhile, the most used technologies in UK CEA were environmental control, lighting and nutrient application. This illustrates a fair degree of connect between research focus and industry requirements. However, some grower priorities, including nutrition and robotics, were under-represented in the literature. UK grower behaviour remains optimistic regarding the opportunities technology such as alternative energy sources and automation can offer CEA, including reduced costs, improved efficiency and crop quality, extended supply season and mitigation of import risk. This must, however, be balanced with threats including operational and capital costs, which are viewed as the most significant barriers to technology innovation uptake.