In-house Farming - Feed & Food Convention

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Glossary

1

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)

Producing food or feed inside a greenhouse, container, tunnel or building where temperature, humidity, light, CO2 and irrigation are actively managed to reach a target yield, quality and harvest date. At InHouse Farming the CEA label spans glasshouse retrofits as well as fully closed vertical farms, so exhibitors range from climate-control suppliers to complete turnkey growers.

2

Vertical farming

Stacking growing layers inside a closed building under artificial light, usually soilless. The commercial case rests on land efficiency, year-round supply and short delivery distance to urban markets; electricity, labour and capex per square metre are the swing costs that exhibitors at the show are trying to cut.

3

Indoor farming

An umbrella term for production inside a structure that removes the crop from outdoor weather - vertical farms, container farms, polytunnels with supplemental lighting and insect-rearing facilities all qualify. The event covers both the plant side and the feed and food protein side of indoor production.

4

Hydroponics

Growing plants in a nutrient solution rather than field soil, with or without an inert substrate. Recirculating hydroponic systems are the default water model for leafy greens and herbs shown in Hamburg's CEA supplier hall.

5

Aeroponics

A soilless method where roots hang in a dark chamber and are misted with nutrient solution on a timed cycle. It offers high oxygen availability to roots but demands reliable pumps, filtration and nozzle maintenance, so uptime and service access are key purchase criteria.

6

Aquaponics

A coupled system in which fish waste supplies nutrients to plants and the plants filter water returning to the fish. At trade level the questions are stocking density, biofilter sizing, feed conversion and food-safety separation between the fish and crop water loops.

7

Deep water culture (DWC)

Plants sit in floating rafts on an oxygenated nutrient pond. Popular for lettuce and basil because of simple mechanical handling and uniform root-zone conditions; the trade-offs are large water volumes, aeration energy and pond hygiene between cycles.

8

Nutrient film technique (NFT)

A shallow, continuously flowing nutrient film passes through sloped channels holding the plant roots. Common in glasshouse leafy production; performance depends on channel slope, flow rate, root-mat blocking and the speed of EC/pH correction.

9

Growing substrate

The physical medium holding roots - rockwool, coir, perlite, peat alternatives, foam plugs or none at all. Substrate choice drives irrigation strategy, root-zone oxygen, waste handling and often the crop's final food-safety profile.

10

PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density)

The amount of usable light landing on the canopy, measured in micromoles per square metre per second. Growers use PPFD alongside electricity price to size a lighting installation, so fixture efficiency (micromoles per joule) is a core specification discussed with LED suppliers at the show.

11

DLI (daily light integral)

The total light a crop receives over one day, obtained by integrating PPFD across the photoperiod. DLI targets differ by species: leafy greens, herbs, strawberries and young plants all need different totals, which is why lighting recipes are quoted per crop rather than per fixture.

12

Light recipe

A chosen combination of spectrum, intensity, photoperiod and timing delivered by a horticultural LED installation. Recipes are tuned for yield, shelf life, flavour compounds or compact plant habit, and can be changed between crops in the same bay.

13

VPD (vapour pressure deficit)

The gap between how much moisture the air can hold and how much it currently holds, expressed in kilopascals. It links temperature and humidity into a single climate-control setpoint that governs transpiration, nutrient uptake and tip burn risk.

14

CO2 enrichment

Raising carbon dioxide concentration above ambient inside a closed growing space to lift photosynthesis rates. In sealed vertical farms it is often a genuine cost line and a safety topic; in glasshouses it competes with ventilation strategy.

15

Closed-loop irrigation

Capturing and reusing drain water after filtration and disinfection rather than discharging it. Nutrient recovery, sodium accumulation and pathogen control (UV, slow sand, ozone) are the practical purchasing decisions behind the term.

16

Black soldier fly (BSFL) protein

Larvae of Hermetia illucens reared on organic residues and processed into protein meal and oil for animal feed. Rearing happens indoors in stacked trays, which is why insect systems sit naturally in an indoor-farming exhibition alongside plant production.

17

Insect frass

The residue left after larvae rearing, sold as an organic fertiliser and soil amendment. Its nutrient content, dryness and hygiene determine whether it is a revenue line or a disposal cost for an insect plant.

18

Precision fermentation

Programming microorganisms to produce specific proteins, fats or functional ingredients in fermenters rather than extracting them from animals or field crops. For the feed and food show the relevant questions are strain selection, downstream processing and regulatory approval.

19

Alternative feed protein

Protein sources replacing or supplementing fishmeal and soybean meal - insect meal, microbial biomass, algae, fermented single-cell protein, by-products of food processing. Buyers compare crude protein content, amino acid profile, digestibility and price per unit of protein.

20

Integrated pest management (IPM) and biological control

Managing pests with beneficial insects, traps, monitoring and environmental control before chemical intervention. Closed environments need this discipline because a single infestation can wipe out a batch, and residue limits constrain what can be sprayed.

21

Post-harvest and ready-to-eat

Cooling, washing, cutting, drying, packing and cold-chain steps needed to turn a live indoor crop into a retail or foodservice product. For leafy greens this stage frequently decides shelf life and customer acceptance more than the growing system itself.

22

Cost per kilogram and unit economics

The blended production cost of a crop once electricity, labour, substrate, seed, depreciation and waste are counted. It is the standard yardstick exhibitors use at indoor-farming events when comparing a vertical-farm build with a glasshouse or with imported produce.