At the University of Minnesota, in a room filled with bright lights and rows of kale, dwarf tomatoes and lettuce researchers are testing the limits of Controlled Environment Agriculture.
"We're growing hydroponically," explains Nate Eylands, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science. "We use about nine to ten percent of the water here that one would in a conventional greenhouse because we use a recirculating system."
The team at the University is also experimenting with quantum dots: Microscopic particles that transform lights that are designed to make the plants grow faster.
"Quantum dots absorb light photons and change them into different photons," says Nate. "We're doing this to speed up the process of photosynthesis in different stages of the plant growth."
