Dear Colleagues,

Along with an increasing population, the world faces climate change, rising fossil fuel prices, ecosystem degradation, and water and land scarcity—all of which are making today's food production methods increasingly unsustainable. According to the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in the next 20 years world food production must increase by 50%, while 80% of that increase must come from intensification. Increasing food demand due to a growing population along with ever decreasing natural resources (land, water, energy) poses one of the greatest challenges facing us. Limited water availability already poses a problem in many parts of Europe and the situation is likely to deteriorate further due to climate change, with Europe’s high water stress areas expected to increase from 19% today to 35% by the 2070s. The globalization of markets has increased the competitiveness whereas the consumers’ needs for healthy, safe, and locally produced products highlight the need for high quality production. The food and floral crops industries, including field agricultural and greenhouse controlled environments, are faced with significant pressures from high energy prices, water shortages, labor shortages, marketing challenges, and strong global competitions. In order to be competitive, the efficiency and productivity needs to be improved, and smart and integrated sustainable technologies have to be used. This can be achieved by developing the proposed smart technologies with automation, mechanization, and robotics for production, handling, and processing. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) optimizes indoor growing environments for crop production year-round. In controlled environments, agricultural production, plant growth practices, techniques, technologies, and methodologies should be addressed to the achievement of stated objectives by modifying and improving the relationship between plant growth, the components, and factors involved in the productive process. Greenhouse and hydroponics systems play a vital role in controlled environment agriculture because they can provide high-quality product all year round with an efficient use of resources, such as water, fertilisers, pesticides, and hand labour. This Special Issue aims to discuss various sustainability issues related to controlled environment agriculture, including but not limited to: Hydroponics systems, Substrates, Plant growth in closed cultivation systems, optimizing of water use, climate distribution, Hydroponics in vertical farming systems, Sustainability issues.

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• Hydroponics
• Greenhouse
• Vertical farming systems
• Substrates
• Automation & control
• Water use efficiency
• Environmental impact assesment