A First Look at Findings from the 2025 Global CEA Census
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The Global CEA Census serves as an annual barometer of the industry, providing a way to track confidence, challenges, and opportunities across the CEA landscape. With the census now in its fifth year, Agritecture has once again partnered with CEAg World to survey the industry and share a comprehensive snapshot of where it stands today. This year’s survey gathered 478 responses across 57 countries, giving robust insight into global perspectives.
A new addition in 2025 is a special section on artificial intelligence (AI): how it is being adopted, what operators expect from it, and what an AI-enabled CEA industry might look like.
Expansion Appetite: Still Strong but Moderating
One of the most telling questions in the census—asked every year—focuses on plans for expansion. This provides a clear measure of both confidence and future expectations. Importantly, an operator typically only plans to expand under one of three conditions:
- The current operation is profitable, and there is additional market share to capture.
- The current operation is not yet profitable but sees tools or solutions to achieve profitability in the near term.
- The current operation is not profitable but has a pending opportunity that would allow scaling toward profitability.
In 2025, 68.2% of operators said they plan to expand their facility within the next two years. While still a majority, this marks a decline from last year, when 84% answered “yes” to the expansion plans question.
This cooling trend is likely driven by tightened funding conditions and sharp increases in energy and input costs affected by the war in Ukraine. Looking more closely at facility types, we see the greatest appetite for expansion among vertical farms and the least interest in expansion among medium-tech greenhouses.
Overall, while expansion enthusiasm has declined, the data suggests operators remain committed to growth where they see viable pathways to profitability.
Energy and Labor: Persistent Headwinds
The two dominant challenges this year remain energy and labor costs.
- Labor: More than 60% of operators reported labor costs accounting for more than 20% of their total operating expenses. High labor costs and scarcity are ongoing concerns across both indoor and open-field agriculture. Although automation and robotics are often proposed as solutions, most are either too expensive or not economically viable in many markets today.
- Energy: High energy costs were again cited as a top concern. Even among operators that have attempted mitigation strategies—such as energy efficiency measures or renewable integration—the challenge remains stubbornly present.
Together, energy and labor continue to shape decision-making among CEA operators, slowing some expansion plans while motivating greater exploration of technological solutions.
AI: From Hype to Emerging Reality
AI is moving from abstract concept to tangible application in CEA. Operators increasingly see AI as a tool to drive better crop outcomes, reduce pests, and make farms more efficient.
Adoption is already under way: Many operators report integrating AI tools into multiple areas of their farms. Areas of most interest for AI use in CEA are climate control and irrigation/nutrient management. The next tier of interest includes areas such as harvest scheduling, growth monitoring, and pest/disease control. While enthusiasm is high, the largest group of respondents is in the “planning to use AI” category, indicating that AI incorporation in CEA is still in its infancy. Regarding barriers to AI adoption, respondents who are already using AI noted that the economic payoff remains uncertain. For many, upfront costs continue to be a barrier.
The census shows that optimism about AI’s role in CEA is strong, though opinions differ among growers, technology suppliers, and experts. The full report (to be released in the coming months) will explore these perspectives, revealing where alignment exists and where expectations diverge.
Looking Forward
The 2025 Global CEA Census paints a picture of cautious optimism. The appetite for expansion has declined but remains strong, with nearly seven in 10 operators planning to grow their operations. Energy and labor costs are the most critical headwinds, underscoring the need for cost-effective innovation. At the same time, AI adoption is advancing more quickly than many anticipated, signaling that technology is poised to shape the next chapter of CEA.
The full report will provide deeper analysis, expert commentary, and year-over-year comparisons. We extend our thanks to our silver sponsors, GrowDirector, Prospiant, and Sollum, and partner organization GLASE (Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering) for supporting this work. To download the full report, go to stage.ceagworld.com/census.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in our 2025 Industry Report: State of the CEA Industry.