Indoor Farming Robots Market

The major functions of robotics in vertical farming include collecting data about the health of the plant, controlling watering, humidity, air temperature, root zone temperature, and light schedules. The growing population, limited availability of arable land, and shortage of farm labor are the factors expected to boost the growth of the global indoor farming robot market during the forecast period. However, the high cost of indoor farming robots and lack of regulatory uniformity are expected to hamper the global market growth during the review period.

Increasing population is one of the major issues, particularly in countries such as India and China; it negatively impacts the growth and development of a country. As per the data published by the UN, in 2019 the population of the world was 7.6 billion it is expected to reach 8.6 billion by 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050, adding approximately 83 million people each year. The increasing population has surged the demand for food. Likewise, it has resulted in migration of people from rural to urban areas and put immense pressure on the available global land-use patterns for agriculture. Besides, rapid urbanization has resulted in decline in arable land. According to the analysis of Market Research Future, around three million hectares of land is lost per year due to degradation of soil quality. Moreover, four million hectares of agricultural land is used to construct highways, factories, and other urban facilities. The limited availability of arable land has increased the adoption of indoor farming, which not only requires a small area for cultivation but also less percentage of soil. The use of robots in indoor farming is increasing at a significant rate as they help in consistent crop production and save resources such as energy and water. Robots assists to achieve optimal agricultural output from seeding to harvesting without affecting the surrounding environment. Thus, the growth in population across the globe and limited availability of arable land are the prime factors expected to drive the demand for indoor farming robots and boost the growth of the global market during the forecast period.

The designing and installation of robots require high investments. The development of robots requires different components such as sensors, controllers, connectivity components, and other components that are expensive. Also, these components impart a certain level of technical complexity such as receiving or responding to perception, action, and cognition. In addition, the installation of advanced robotic technology in indoor farming is costly.

The high cost of technology is expected to be the major hurdle in the adoption of indoor farming robots. Currently, only corporate farms in developed countries are adopting indoor farming robots. These growers use indoor farming robots to increase the production of well-know and valued crops such as wheat, maize, and rice. However, the high initial cost, long product life cycle, and technical complexity of indoor farming robots are also expected to hamper the adoption of agribots and restrain the growth of the global market during the forecast period.

Agriculture is the most common occupation with more than 570 million farms across the globe. The traditional farming depends upon the use of natural resources, such as land, nutrition, water, and other chemicals. Traditional techniques of farming are widely used and trusted. The conventional way of farming has led to irresponsible use of key natural resources. The two major challenges faced by the traditional techniques of farming are wastage of resources and overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. This issue can be solved by the use of advanced technologies and machinery such as robots. However, lack of awareness, knowledge, and training have hampered their adoption. The major reasons for less awareness regarding indoor farming robots among farmers are lack of government support and knowledge among farmers as well as less numbers of players in the global indoor farming robots market.