• Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), including vertical farming, offers substantial gains in productivity while reducing environmental impact. 
• CEA systems can complement traditional agriculture by providing local, year-round food production that is independent of climate, region, or weather. 
• Policy support, technological innovation, and public engagement are crucial to unlock the full potential of CEA. 

Climate change and a decline in available arable land are reducing crop yields, which can significantly impact food security. Sustainable solutions to feed the increasingly growing population are urgent. 

A research team as part of the Proteins4Singapore (P4SG) project, co-led by TUMCREATE in Singapore and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), proposes that future controlled environment agriculture – CEA systems can boost productivity for several food sources. In CEA, all growth conditions are carefully controlled to optimise growth and yield. Controllable parameters impacting these growth conditions span temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide concentration, and nutrients. All the outputs can be finely tuned, largely minimising environmental impact. 

CEA enables a consistent year-round production of safe food and can complement traditional farming, according to Dr Vanesa Calvo-Baltanás, research fellow at TUMCREATE and the lead researcher of this finding. The team investigated the yield potential of six food groups cultivated under CEA conditions, including crops, algae, mushrooms, insects, fish, and cultivated meat. 

“Controlled environment agriculture systems can be set up anywhere in the world and remain unaffected by climate, weather, and location. Additionally, they can reduce water use by over 90%, which greatly benefits water-scarce regions. This can greatly enhance food security for drought-prone areas,” says Dr Vanesa Calvo-Baltanás, who works with Prof Senthold Asseng, Professor of Digital Agriculture at TUM and a co-Lead-Investigator of the P4SG project. 

Despite the current high energy requirements combined with high electricity prices, as nations work towards climate resilience and food security goals, CEA could play a key role in supporting initiatives like Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ food security strategy and the European Union’s ‘Farm to Fork’ policy by reducing the environmental and climate impact of primary production. The ‘30 by 30’ agenda aims to locally produce 30 percent of the city-nation’s nutritional needs by 2030. 

“Controlled environment agriculture can revolutionise food production. However, to fully unlock its full potential, technological advancements to reduce energy requirements, policy incentives, and public engagement are needed. Our study provides a framework to help policymakers, industry leaders, and researchers to make informed decisions for developing sustainable food production systems,” says Dr Calvo-Baltanás. 

The research is carried out by TUMCREATE and supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. 

Calvo-Baltanás V, Vilcinskas A, Brück T et al. The future potential of controlled environment agriculture. PNAS Nexus. 2025. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus.pgaf078 

About TUMCREATE 

Founded in 2010, TUMCREATE is a multidisciplinary research platform fostering bilateral research exchanges between the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the world’s leading universities, local institutions, and public agencies as well as industry partners from the region to contribute to the sustainable transformation of societies through science and technology. Funded by the National Research Foundation, TUMCREATE’s multi-faceted research projects span topics from urban mobility, food science and technology, biomedical technology, and preventive care to solutions for a carbon-neutral megacity. 

Proteins4Singapore 

Proteins4Singapore is a five-year strategic research programme hosted by TUMCREATE, dedicated to advancing plant-based alternative protein science and building a sustainable, high-quality protein food supply for Singapore. This initiative establishes a holistic research platform that integrates innovative cultivation techniques, state-of-the-art processing technologies, and new food engineering approaches alongside a molecular characterisation of flavour perception, toxicology, and health impact assessment of novel foods. Guided by techno-economic and techno-functional evaluations, the consortium aims to develop scalable and sustainable solutions for the future of alternative proteins.