It feels like there should be a more direct way to grow stuff. AppHarvest is doing something interesting. Why plant in dirt outside and rely on lossy transmission of fertilizer and water to the plant? Plus fungus, parasites, etc. A controlled environment where you can get the nutrients and water directly to the plant seems a lot more efficient. I know the capex is huge but still. We probably should all be eating less (and wasting less) food here in the US.
Mostly it's just economies of scale. Who cares if 20% of the crop is lost to random soil related problems if you can grow ten times as much stuff in dirt than in a controlled environment. Land is so much cheaper than indoor farming.
However, I think the critical thing that is going to make indoor farming commercially viable will be water prices. At some point, the heavily subsidized water in the western US is going to finish collapsing. Indoor farming lets you milk every drop of water into product. We're talking 10:1 ratios of water usage between outdoor and indoor farming.
Currently, water to grow iceberg lettuce is about 12% of the total cost in California at $216 per acre foot. Currently it is possible for those rates to triple or even quadruple in the next few years. We may be seeing a lot more indoor growing soon!
