5 reasons to start your own greenhouse farm

Added on 29 March 2023

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5 reasons to start your own greenhouse farm

When starting a farm, research is key to ensuring you make the right decisions upfront to avoid headaches later. There are many choices to be made, but one of the most important is which type of farm to start. Each farm model comes with its own set of pros and cons, especially concerning startup costs, operation costs, and climate control. On Agritecture Designer, you can compare CapEx, OpEx, and yields from vertical farms, greenhouses, or container farms to discover which would be best for your idea and local market. Agritecture’s consulting team is a big fan of greenhouses, which have a long history of commercial and private success. For many reasons, a greenhouse can be a great way to break into the market.

Here are 5 reasons why you might want to start a greenhouse farm:

1. Lower CapEx than other CEA facilities

Credit: Sustainable, Secure Food Blog.

Greenhouses are a great way to break into the industry because the CapEx is often lower than that needed to start a vertical or container farm. In one comparison conducted by iFarm, the CapEx cost of a high-tech greenhouse was around $250-350 per square meter, whereas a vertical farm costs around $2,200 to $2,600 per square meter. These figures show that each farm type’s CapEx is drastically different, meaning that greenhouses are a more accessible option to those with less capital to spend upfront. They are also a great option for temperate, humid climates, where evaporative cooling can efficiently meet the climate control needs of the farm.

Additionally, greenhouses offer much more flexibility in terms of materials used. Since greenhouse farmers only need land rather than a building or structure, that cost is automatically cheaper than a container farm or a vertical farm. Many retailers offer greenhouse cultivation supplies, and the cost of these varies widely, but on the whole, the building materials make for a cheaper build than a container or vertical farm.

2. Lower OpEx

Source: Agritecture

Importantly, greenhouses take advantage of the most powerful energy source we’ve yet discovered, the sun, and even better, it’s free. This critical distinction is largely responsible for GH’s significant energy savings due to lower lighting and heating bills than comparable vertical or container farms.