C H A P T E R

16
Indoor production of tomatoes
Mike Zelkind, Tisha Livingston and Victor Verlage
80 Acres Farms, Hamilton, OH, United States

16.1 Introduction

Vertical farming has come of age, and to accelerate the impact of its contribution on the
industry, will have to evolve beyond growing just lettuces, leafy greens, and herbs into fruit-
ing crops: a case for vertically farmed tomatoes. This chapter captures the perspective and
insights learned from the founders of 80 Acres Farms (80acresfarms.com) and Infinite Acres
(infinite-acres.com). We strive to present the prospect for vertical farming to evolve into
massive sustainable growth by establishing fruiting crops as one viable path for scaled up
production. After demonstrating success in growing lettuces, leafy greens, and herbs in
vertical farms, 80 Acres Farms has now accomplished the first milestones in growing and
marketing “commercially viable tomatoes” in a true indoor farming system. This break-
through frames the opportunity for vertical farming to scale and reach critical mass not
only in leafy vegetable crops but also fruiting crops.
A little background story on why we chose indoor farming over greenhouse production. We
knew that our current food supply chain was broken. So much of the food we produce gets
wasted in the field or throughout the supply chain. What makes it to the store does not
meet the consumer’s demands for clean, fresh, and consistently available produce. We knew
that we wanted to impact the food supply with local food production to satisfy consumer
needs. We did not know exactly how to accomplish that task. To find the best solution, we
researched all obvious solutions. We traveled to Europe to learn from the best high-tech green-
houses and to Japan to visit the most advanced vertical farms. Imagine the following situation:
it is the summer solstice, at high noon, and you are in a greenhouse and all the high pressure
sodium (HPS) lights are on. Why? Because after whitewashing the greenhouse to control the
heat, additional light is needed. With no insulation, heating and cooling are expensive in addi-
tion to the capital costs of purchasing lights and operating costs of lighting the greenhouse.
Also, crop quality is difficult to control and requires very sophisticated growers. At that the
moment, we knew that we needed to build and grow our crops in a vertical farm.
It requires a very experienced grower to manage a long-term crop such as tomato because
of the constant need to adjust, manage, and modify growing strategies to react to the

Plant Factory Basics, Applications and Advances

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85152-7.00008-2 295 © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
296 16. Indoor production of tomatoes

environmental variability, which is due to nature’s inconsistency and seasonality. With

climate change causing extreme highs and lows, adaptive growing strategies are becoming
more challenging. Examples of challenging growing condition include: how do you vent
the greenhouse when it rains? How do you manage and balance a greater leaf area index?
How do you manage excessive heat inside a greenhouse? How do you manage disease
and pest pressure? How do you maintain fruit quality at consistently high levels? Once
growers learn to handle such issues, they need to begin thinking about scaling up the busi-
ness because production volume is key to profitability and relevance in the industry. Every
greenhouse is a unique engineering project that is designed for its local conditions. At the end
of the day, you can’t really control the sweetness or shelf life of the tomato crop and you are
always at the mercy of mother nature. Why should that be the case in the 21st century? Tech-
nology should enable us to adopt a completely novel and different approach. We need an
approach that enables stressing the plants on command, not randomly when the weather de-
cides, and an approach that allows scaling and making an impact on the food supply that the
consumers desire.

16.2 Controlled environment agriculture initial assessment

Vertical farming has gained traction over the past few years and continues to build mo-
mentum as more start-up projects demonstrate the ability to deliver consumer relevant prod-
ucts at affordable prices. Most of the production capacity in true indoor vertical farms
consists of mixed salad, premium baby leaves, and herbs. The time has come to advance ver-
tical farming to the next stage of evolution to enable new capabilities that true indoor farming
can offer through the production of fruiting crops. There are many fruiting crops like straw-
berries that can be considered, but tomato is the perfect candidate to lead the evolution of this
young controlled environment agriculture industry from lettuce into a massive scaling oppor-
tunity of the broader variety of crops.

16.2.1 Vegetative crops a logical initial step

There exist well understood and tested reasons why growing a crop where the edible
portion of the plants is the vegetative stage. This has made lettuce and other leafy greens
the perfect first choice for vertical farming as a commercially viable business model. The short
architecture of the plant and the ability to plan for many short production cycles in densely
populated, tight spaces offer a practical solution for space utilization inside these “three
dimensional” vertical farms. Also, the simpler physiology of a lettuce crop and the ease of
growing a vegetative crop versus the complexity of nourishing a fruiting crop provided
the incentive for vertical farming to get started with leafy greens.

16.2.2 Commoditization of lettuces and leafy greens

Although lettuce offers many advantages for high biomass production with good quality
and yield, lettuce is a product that has been heavily “commoditized” making it difficult to
 16.3 Justification for fruiting crops 297
achieve profitability and return on investment in acceptable timelines at a significant scale.
Beyond a specific group of niche products, the lettuce category needs to be de-
commoditized by building functionality into this category. Many efforts are underway to
produce crops that are demonstrably high in nutrition and concentrating “health driven”
compounds that consumers recognize and are willing to purchase at the appropriate price.

16.2.3 Managing assortment to achieve scale while maintaining proximity to

market and freshness value proposition
Although there exists a defined sizable market for lettuce and leafy greens in specific
densely populated regions of the world, the aggregated demand for lettuce alone in most
markets as a “niche” product is not enough to absorb a scalable vertical farming operation
while remaining a “local product.” These new “food factories” will need to increase the
assortment to maintain the “hyper-fresh” value proposition and to avoid reverting to
the longer shipping distances that are currently afflicting the established supply chain with
thousands of transportation miles or several days to reach the consumer. This has a direct
impact on the freshness, quality, nutrient content, and cost of mixed salads and leafy greens
in the market today.

16.3 Justification for fruiting crops

16.3.1 Niche versus relevance

There is a segment of the market with disposable income that, although limited in volume,
can afford niche products at a premium price. Increasing the assortment and variety of rele-
vant products that already enjoy a large volume demand at higher prices will help vertical
farming consolidate this business model at scale.

16.3.2 Fruiting crops are the next logical step for increasing capacity
utilization and achieving scale
To evolve into a mature and more relevant food production industry, vertical farming will
have to increase the assortment of produced crops to include fruiting plants. Initially, these
additional crops will have a better opportunity to access a market with an already established
large volume demand for high value products. The evolution into fruiting crops will require
first to select cultivars that are adapted to confined spaces while demonstrating high produc-
tivity and marketable yield. The architecture of the crop will determine which engineering
designs are most viable to consider. One option is to select fruiting crop types with naturally
occurring short plant architecture, like strawberries, that can easily adapt to a “multilayer”
farm form. A second alternative, for multilayer farms, is to redesign the plant architecture
to a “dwarf” growing habit. In the case of tomato, this can be accomplished by either select-
ing from old heirloom determinate varieties or by breeding dwarf, determinate growth pat-
terns into existing commercial greenhouse varieties with attractive quality attributes.
298 16. Indoor production of tomatoes

16.3.3 Challenge to design vertical farms with versatile environment zones to

accommodate for different crop needs in a sensible way at scale
One important reason to expand the crop assortment inside a vertical farm is to offer a
more complete selection for local markets. New designs of vertical farms must enable the
capability to manage different growing climates, in close proximity, to provide optimal con-
ditions for maximum productivity of very different plant types. The new farms should offer
versatility in climate, lighting, and fertigation within the same space.

16.3.4 Need to map the evolution for vertical farming into fruiting crops
Adapting fruiting crops to vertical farming has already started. There are different con-
cepts for vertical farms being tested in the market to optimize space utilization for maximum
productivity, quality, and differentiated consumer value. Some vertical farmers have
designed growing systems utilizing vertical columns while others, like Infinite Acres and
80 Acres, decided to pursue a “stacked planks” multilayer approach. In all of these and other
forms, both the growing system and the architecture of the plant must be adapted in a syn-
ergistic way to a farm design that enables commercial viability. The growing model needs to
deliver sufficient productivity and efficient use of resources in a practical process to make the
final product affordable to consumers while protecting the environment and advancing
sustainability.
Over the next few years, as the world’s population increases to nine billion, demand for
food is projected to grow beyond current capabilities. Resources to produce agricultural
crops, namely land and water, in conventional ways will continue to experience pressure
from the growing population. Climate change will also play a role affecting the ability to
maintain a reliable flow of fruits and vegetables to densely populated urban areas. All these
factors will increase costs over traditional agricultural systems and will allow for indoor
farming to compete in the marketplace.

16.4 Tomatoes are a very viable initial option to establish fruiting crops into
vertical farming
Growing tomatoes in an indoor facility requires a more sophisticated design than the
average lettuce vertical farm. Fruiting crops, like tomatoes, will require more steps for a
more complex crop physiology as compared to leafy greens where the edible product is
the vegetative part of the plant. The long-term nature of a fruiting crop requires added
care and design challenges of airflow, lighting, nutrition, and irrigation. The entire crop man-
agement system needs to be reengineered to fit the vertical farming form. For illustrative pur-
poses of the requirement for a tomato facility, we have utilized excerpts from a proposal by
Infinite Acres for an indoor tomato farm.
This proposal requires a new indoor facility to be built with a footprint off roughly
10,000 m2. The total growing area will be 6,000 m2. More specifically, the total growing
area is divided in six different zones of around 1,000 m2 each (Fig. 16.1). For each zone, we
will set up the necessary technical areas to create the desired climate related to the crop.
 16.4 Tomatoes are a very viable initial option to establish fruiting crops into vertical farming 299

OFFICE WASH ROOM

WASTE
WASTE
BREAK

STORAGE
WIP
MEN

FINISH GOOD
WET

PACKAGING SHPG RCVG

VEST
SAN.

WOMEN

ROOM
MAINT. WIP

ELEC
SHOP DRY STORAGE DRY STORAGE
DATA

FIRE
EQUIPMENT STORAGE GERM / PROP PUMP
MECHANICAL

MECHANICAL

FERTIGATION
IRRIGATION
STORAGE

FIGURE 16.1 Top view of a vertical farm for tomato production. Bottom: irrigation technical zone. Center:
cultivation rooms with independent climate control capability. Top: packaging lines 1 and 2, storage and employee
welfare areas.
300 16. Indoor production of tomatoes

16.4.1 Growing zone process

Upon entering the high-tech indoor farm, the module consist of a growing area and a sepa-
rate technical room. The growing area has a continuous evenly spread airflow controlling
temperature, humidity, and CO2. The strict climate controls in the growing module, com-
bined with a state-of-the-art light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system and irrigation system,
provide the optimal environment for any plant. This farm design is modular and can be fitted
to any specific design, within parameters, to ensure the most consistent climate and
dehumidification.
Compared to other indoor farm systems, we have a proactive control which is needed
when working with equipment that can adjust the climate in a short period of time. This is
different from a conventional heating system where the response time is more gradual.
We measure the climate parameters before and inside the mixing chamber, before the heat-
ing and/or cooling block, and after the air treatment unit. This enables us to direct and adjust
the equipment to achieve the optimal climate. The software is fully integrated with all other
modules and can monitor when the lights are activated (more heat added), and when irriga-
tion has started (temporarily more humidity), etc.
80 Acres’ proprietary computer control system will manage all growing conditions
remotely through artificial intelligence to adjust the growing conditions and provide alerts
to the growers for final confirmation or human override of the “optimized” system settings.
A user interface is provided on a remote computer that allows a user to monitor and control
various operations. Examples of such operations include: removing from or inserting into an
indoor farming module trays containing crops, starting or stopping irrigation of crops within
an indoor farming module, adjusting the temperature, humidity, and/or lighting within an
indoor farming module, etc.
Not only does this system offer recipe management and remote setting adjustments but
also manages tracking and tracing from seed to distribution, quality checks, unit economics
compared to target, crop monitoring through sensor and vision data as well as shop floor
data collection.

16.4.2 Infinite Acres indoor growing module

The indoor growing module is a high-tech growing facility. The module consists of a
growing area and a separate small technical room. The growing area has a continuous evenly
spread airflow control of temperature, humidity, and CO2. Combined with a state-of-the art
LED system and irrigation system, this provides an optimal environment for any plant. The
module is modular and to be fitted to the specific design, within parameters for optimal
airflow.

16.4.3 Unique technology in a closed loop

• Continuous circulation of air. No direct exchange with outside air.
• Equally divided air distribution by push and pull concept, “laminar air flow.”
• 97% less water usage compared to open field production. Most of the transpiration
water from the crop will be captured and recycled back to the system as irrigation
water.
 16.4 Tomatoes are a very viable initial option to establish fruiting crops into vertical farming 301
• Free of chemicals: no herbicides or pesticides required.
• Highest quality and consistency combined with reliable year-round production.
• High flexibility in hardware and controls, climate, irrigation, and light to support a
wide diversity of crops growing side by side in the same chamber is possible.
• Proven track-record in food production facilities.

16.4.4 Climate control

Total control of the climate inside the indoor facility gives the grower influence over both
the optimal growth of the crop as well as the prevention of diseases and crop damage. Infinite
Acres supplies a range of systems and devices for monitoring and controlling the indoor fa-
cility, from traditional measuring boxes to highly sensitive sensors, and from air treatment to
advanced environmental controls. All these assist the grower in creating the ideal internal
climate.
To create a climate for growth, it is crucial that all the installations around the crop work
seamlessly together. ’Integrated control logic’ is the solution to optimize temperature, humid-
ity, and airflow in all available installations. This integrated control logic is the base of every
Infinite Acres climate system. However, this integration does not stop with climate. Infinite
Acres’ optimal growing environment also includes strict controls over irrigation, plant nutri-
tion, light energy (photoperiod, intensity, and balanced spectrum), and CO2. All variables are
controlled and managed as a cohesive integrated control system. This complete and complex
process can be optimized with one single holistic Infinite Acres technology solution.

16.4.5 Climate system

The climate control system creates a stable climate inside the module. The complete air vol-
ume is refreshed over 80 times per hour. The optimal air distribution creates an even, gentle
flow and prevents wind stress. The temperature difference over the growing racks, between
the air inlet and air outlet is 2 C, and the moisture difference is 1.3 g kg 1.

16.4.6 Specifications of single layer system

Table 16.1 shows specifications and examples of environmental parameters of single layer
system.

16.4.7 Lighting system

For any crop, light and CO2 are crucial for photosynthesis and thereby for growth. Opti-
mizing the light and CO2 conditions around your crop is therefore an important step for a
better result. We are using our controls together with multiple products that can help you
monitor the conditions and analyze these conditions. This is the first step toward optimiza-
tion. We also offer the option to optimize light. The strategy to provide the crop optimal
photosynthetically active radiation energy includes the control of artificial lighting at the
balanced photoperiod, intensity (or photosynthetic photon flux density), and light
302 16. Indoor production of tomatoes

TABLE 16.1 Specifications and examples of environmental parameters of a single layer system.
Values

Growing area 1,000 m2 per zone

Overall dimensions 6 grow rooms, each 20  50 m (interior)

1
Air speed 0.0e0.2 m s
Air refresh rate 40e80 times per hour
CO2 concentration 0e1,500 ppm
Temperature 18e27  C
Relative humidity at 24 C 70e90% RH

Light intensity (photosynthetic photon flux density) 0e700 mmol m 2

s 1

% Light spectrum customizable Blue: 7%

Green: 4%
Red: 85%
Far-red: 4%

Parameters can be adjusted to meet customer needs.

wavelength. Connecting the installations into one single integrated control strategy makes
controlling easier and more precise. Optimizing the use of lights saves costs and optimizes
the photosynthesis process.

16.4.8 Priva water systems

16.4.8.1 Water unit
To maintain a stable electrical conductivity and pH, the fertigation system provides accu-
rate fertilizer and acid/lye injection. The Indoor Grow module is equipped with all
commonly known irrigation systems (e.g., ebb/flow, drippers, etc.) With this system you
will be able to create different recipes for the specific grow phases of the crop. The distribu-
tion will take place automatically and at the desired time or frequency of the client.
For this proposal, we used the Nutrifit which is our most used water unit of our portfolio
(Fig. 16.2). For remote areas with extreme climates and where water is scarce, indoor growing
is a great opportunity because the water usage is reduced up to 90% in comparison with
traditional greenhouse growing.

16.4.8.2 Water disinfection unit Vialux system

"Affordable water disinfection with ultraviolet (UV) light for any horticulture company",
that is what the Priva Vialux M-Line stands for (Fig. 16.3). With UV disinfection, significant
improvements can be realized regarding disease control and efficient water use. In addition,
the Vialux M-Line meets the most stringent demands for food hygiene. The Priva Vialux M-
Line UV disinfection system destroys all existing organisms such as fungi, bacteria, and vi-
ruses within the irrigation water. The system can be applied for both new entry water or
 16.4 Tomatoes are a very viable initial option to establish fruiting crops into vertical farming 303

FIGURE 16.2 Impression of an nutrifit indoor.

FIGURE 16.3 Vialux M-line ultraviolet disinfection unit.

recycled drain water. UV disinfection allows continuous recirculation of the irrigation water
in a safe manner. As a result, expensive fertilizers are not flushed down the drain and do not
contaminate the environment.
304 16. Indoor production of tomatoes

16.5 Priva Vialux M-Line advantages

• Protect the crop against germs like viruses, bacteria, and fungi by disinfecting surface
and drain water.
• Realize savings by reusing drain water and fertilizers at the lowest cost per m3 of disin-
fected water compared to other UV disinfection systems.
• Meet regulations and consumer demands.
• Ensure the water quality is safe for healthy produce.
• Prevent water discharge.
• A flexible design.
• A scalable and expandable system for any scale of operation.
• Wide range of operation in terms of level and volume of UV disinfection.
• Easy to replace the lamp, quartz tube, and UV sensor.

16.5.1 Energy consumption of facility

For this indoor facility, the amount of energy that is needed on a 24-hr basis for the
growing system is specified in Table 16.2. From our experience, the grow rooms are opera-
tional for almost 52 weeks per year. Each growing day has a light period of 16 h. This auto-
matically results in the highest energy consumption for that period. Also, during nighttime,
the ventilation strategy is slightly adjusted.

TABLE 16.2 Specifications of electric energy consumption based on our 6,000 m2 growing area.
User Max Nominal Night

Air handling units 134 [kW] 8% 134 [kW] 9% 69 [kW] 20%

Heat pumps 643 [kW] 36% 548 [kW] 35% 193 [kW] 56%
Lights 749 [kW] 42% 749 [kW] 47% 0 [kW] 0%
Circulation pumps 43 [kW] 2% 43 [kW] 3% 22 [kW] 6%
Dry coolers 39 [kW] 2% 33 [kW] 2% 20 [kW] 6%
Transport pumps 82 [kW] 5% 70 [kW] 4% 42 [kW] 12%
Irrigation incl. disinfection 72 [kW] 4% 0 [kW] 0% 0 [kW] 0%

Total 1,762 [kW] 1,577 [kW] 346 [kW]

100% [e] 89% [e] 20% [e]
Duration 6 [h] 12 [h] 6 [h]

Daytime conditions: 23 C and 70% RH.

Nighttime conditions: 22 C and 85% RH.
Installed light intensity 280 mmol m 2 s 1.
Light efficiency 3.0 mmol J 1.
 16.5 Priva Vialux M-Line advantages 305
Infinite Acres and 80 Acres continue to develop technologies and solutions to establish
commercially viable fruiting crops in vertical “indoor” farming. Our Fireworks cherry to-
matoes are already in the market and are well underway to lead this evolution with more
fruiting crops being developed in the near future.
At Infinite Acres and 80 Acres, we look forward to continuing to support the vertical
farming entrepreneurs to succeeding in the market to grow locally in a sustainable and profit-
able way.