Addressing food production challenges and resilience through controlled environment horticulture

Climate change-driven effects on food production and reduced predicted water availability pose serious environmental threats to the sustainability of food systems. Controlled Environment Horticulture (CEH) systems at various scales and technologies can bring solutions to current problems of increasing population, urbanization, food deserts, climate change, and decreasing arable lands and freshwater resources. CEH can provide a consistent supply of local, fresh, safe, and nutritious fruits and vegetables. This presentation will first highlight some examples of CEH technologies adopted by industry and growers in Latin American countries and then present how we at Texas A&M AgriLife are addressing these challenges by integrating fundamental and applied horticultural research and education in CEH with themes centered around resource-use-efficiency, climate-smart food systems, produce quality, produce quantity, and training.