World population is reaching 10 Billion in the very near future and sustainability concerns are among the top global priorities, just the right time for emerging agritech sector to capitalize on latest developments in vertical agriculture, artificial protein-growing factories and now speed breeding as well. The article “Speed breeding is a powerful tool to accelerate crop research and breeding“, recently published in Nature Journal, presents a method called ‘speed breeding’, which greatly shortens growing cycle time by smart use of light-emitting diode (LED) supplemental lighting. The method promises 4-6 crops per year instead of 2–3 under normal greenhouse conditions.
There are still many questions to answer and issues to tackle before speed breeding technology will be ready for wide-scale commercial use. Yet we can already envision its pilot deployment for high value crops (such as recreational and medicinal marijuana) and urban vertical farms.
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