A precision indoor farming system [PIFS] comprises numerous interrelated components, from the plants and animals to the enclosing structure(s), growing facility, equipment, environmental and operational control apparatus, information gathering and processing devices, and labor and management practices. PIFSs have evolved from production under simple, modified environments to precise, controlled environments. We focus on their application in plant and aquaculture systems.

The most advanced form of controlled environment plant system (CEPS)—also known as a vertical farm, plant factory, and phytomation (Ting et al. 2021)—falls within the concept of PIFS. The ability to optimally integrate indoor and outdoor environments, plant culture, human workers, machines, social acceptance, market demand, and economic viability is essential to a successful advanced CEPS.

A CEPS can readily implement the most modern automation, crop culture, environmental control, and systems integration methods and technologies (Ting 2013). Their high degree of closure allows not only the use of sun-independent light (i.e., sources completely powered by electricity) to provide precise quantity and quality of photons to plants but also the application of advances in artificial intelligence.

In terms of sustainability, CEPSs may facilitate the breeding of seeds to maximize crop productivity and meet production targets, the use of green building principles in facility design, autonomous capabilities including robotics, marketing strategies that respond to customer interests, and just-in-time operations that minimize inventory (van Delden et al. 2021).

For all these reasons, the CEPS is an ideal form of agriculture that will both benefit significantly from and promote the convergence of science, engineering, and technology to transform FAS.

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