For years, yield has dominated the conversation in vertical farming, and for good reason. A higher yield per square metre typically means more revenue. But high yield alone does not make an operation commercially viable.
"Indoor growing is no different to any other sector: the businesses that survive and thrive are those built on disciplined product principles that protect unit economics, reduce risk, and deliver consistent performance at scale," says Kortstee.
Yield matters, but it is only part of the equation. The ultimate indicator of whether a project is commercially viable is the payback period -- the number of years taken for the investment in technology to be repaid through produce sales. Beneath that sits five main drivers: yield, economic value of produce, initial investment, labour, and energy.
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Three traits that define a commercially viable vertical farm
Productised and globally repeatable
Many vertical farming systems on the market are designed around a specific project, location, or facility. The result is variable performance from one deployment to the next -- a significant obstacle for customers and investors.
"This bespoke-design process results in variable performance from one deployment to the next," Kortstee notes. "The technology is not fundamentally repeatable, making the approach risky, expensive, and hard to scale."
IGS takes the opposite approach, building its technology as a productised, modular, standardised platform. "A repeatable product means that customers, investors, and partners know what to expect from one project to the next, increasing commercial confidence," he says.
Energy efficient
Energy is typically the largest operating expense in vertical farming -- a reality brought into sharp focus following the war in Ukraine in 2022, when global energy prices rose to unprecedented levels.
"From a product perspective, this must be approached strategically," says Kortstee. "Before implementing any change -- whether a new recipe, LED strip, or subsystem redesign -- we question whether it improves energy efficiency."
Efficiency upgrades are rolled out across IGS's existing customer base, ensuring operators benefit from continuous improvement rather than one-off, bespoke innovations.
Partner-enabled, open architecture
Vertical farming cannot operate in isolation. IGS's strategy is built around collaboration with specialist partners rather than a closed, proprietary approach.
"This works best when systems are built on open, modular principles, enabling scalability and seamless integration with third-party platforms," Kortstee says, "allowing our customers to combine best-in-class technologies."
Learning from past failures
Kortstee does not shy away from acknowledging the industry's high-profile failures, though he is clear that they reflect specific approaches rather than the concept of vertical farming itself.
His takeaways are direct: establish what good looks like from the start; prioritise unit economics above all else; and select technology that is productised, efficient, and scalable.
"Prioritise unit economics above all else," he says. "This means keeping a firm grasp on the costs of what you grow, where you grow it, how you grow it, and who you plan on selling it to."
Changing the conversation
IGS uses its Grower Model to help customers evaluate commercial viability before a project begins, incorporating proven crop recipes, capital and operational expenditure, labour, energy, market prices, and crop-related economics.
"It reframes the discussion around the metric that matters: can this farm deliver an acceptable payback period?" says Kortstee. "That is the real measure of success."
The model captures all underlying drivers -- yield, labour, energy, and initial investment -- within a single comparable measure, enabling customers to evaluate the true value of the technology and the conditions required for long-term success.
"The conversation in vertical farming must shift from simply 'what can be grown?' to 'what can be grown sustainably and profitably?'" Kortstee says. "The next decade will belong to those who embrace productisation, measurable performance, collaboration, and bankability."
For more information: 
Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS)
Niels Kortstee, Head of Product & Marketing
www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com
