Welcome to Project LAMP
LAMP (lighting approaches to maximize profits) is a research and outreach project funded by USDA NIFA SCRI (award 2018-51181-28365) with the goal of maximizing profits by improving lighting systems used in controlled environment agriculture (CEA).
OUR MISSION is to help growers get more value out of their lighting systems by providing horticultural and economical information and tools to manage the lights for optimal crop growth and quality and to maximize the return on investment.
Helping Maximize Profits in
Controlled Environment Agriculture
Greenhouses and plant factories can help meet the challenge of more intensive, profitable, and sustainable specialty crop production. The greenhouse industry is a well-established and important component of US agriculture, with a 2015 farm-gate value of ~$6.5 billion. For efficient year-round production in greenhouses, supplemental light is often beneficial, but the expenses can be high. The electricity required for supplemental lighting in greenhouses can account for up to 20-30% of variable costs.
Plant factories, an emerging technology where plants are grown indoors, provide total control over environmental conditions, but production relies entirely on electric lighting. Electric lighting and air-conditioning combined can account for 50-60% of the variable costs in plant factories.
A recent Department of Energy report estimated the total annual costs of providing supplemental lighting in controlled environment agriculture to be ~$600,000,000 per year in the US. More cost-effective lighting approaches will have a major impact on the sustainability and profitability of controlled environment agriculture (greenhouses and plant factories), reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and thus provide benefits for the controlled environment agriculture industry, society, and the environment.
Monitoring for Success
Impact monitoring and evaluation will be used throughout the duration of the project to assess our progress and quantify the impact our work has on the controlled environment industry. We ask for your help with this. There are parts of this website where you may be asked to provide feedback. Please help us help you by telling us what you think!
- CEA growers – our primary audience.
- Commercial lighting companies – important partners that assure new lighting strategies are made available.
- Scientists – by sharing our results, fellow scientists will be able to build on our work.
- Graduate students – trained to develop a new generation of scientists who can support CEA.
Our Audience