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Create Season Extension Systems for Year-Round Production

Many horticultural crops are limited to specific growing seasons, creating supply gaps, price volatility, and lost production opportunities, while climate change makes traditional seasons less predictable. The challenge is developing season extension systems that can enable year-round production of seasonal crops while maintaining quality and economic viability. This requires innovations in protected cultivation, environmental control, crop adaptation, and energy-efficient season extension. Current season extension often relies on expensive heating or cooling that makes extended production economically unviable, while many crops have not been adapted for extended season production. Technical barriers include developing energy-efficient climate control, adapting crops for extended season performance, and creating economically viable protected growing systems. Success would enable consistent year-round produce supply, reduce price volatility, increase production efficiency, and provide production systems that can adapt to increasingly unpredictable seasonal weather patterns.

Applied Sciences, Specialized Agriculture, Horticulture