Resource-efficient agricultural operations are more resilient in the face of climate change and economic volatility, but data to validate efficiency of CEA facilities is not yet transparently shared among key market actors. Benchmarks for energy and water efficiency and productivity for greenhouses and indoor farms are not available to the market for several reasons. Data necessary to quantify the impacts of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) approaches is collected by producers, but until 2017, a trusted and non-profit platform for benchmarking key performance indicators (KPIs) did not exist.

As PowerScore has served cultivation facilities for the past five years, the worldwide CEA industry has seen rapid growth in several crop categories. As the CEA industry expands and more resources are consumed to drive production, it is imperative to benchmark more facilities to verify the environmental impacts and benefits of CEA approaches. CEA facilities use less land to grow more food with less waste.