#cesrf

Horticultural production in controlled environments is trendy fodder these days attracting significant support both within the investment realm and urban citizenship, however; the challenge of growing food crops in controlled environments efficiently, and profitably, is not a trivial task.  Securing an intimate knowledge of plant biology - understanding the influence of light quality and quantity must work in concert with the environment - is paramount to the success of any integration of controlled horticulture and artificial light.  Furthermore, optimizing the environment to achieve nutritious, tasty and sustainable options, equivalent to what one should expect from their food choices requires even further understanding of the environmental interrelationships driving photosynthesis.

The Aurora Star Research Light has been in operation since 2010 at CESRF with tests on a multitude of crops experimenting with germination, photosynthesis, vegetative growth and adaptation studies. Today we have an acute understanding and library on what makes a plant tick and this knowhow has contributed significantly to our understanding of tech-transfer applications including supplemental light for greenhouses, single source lighting for controlled environment horticulture, as well as the development of turnkey phytopharmaceutical plant production platforms.