CEA and Indoor Farming (CEAIF) 2026 opens on 1 May, with Day 1 taking place on 8 May and Day 2 on 22 May. The full programme is now confirmed across two parallel stages, with more than 30 sessions spanning energy management, lighting science, water, food safety, autonomous monitoring, and farm scalability. The event is organised by Tech 4.0 in collaboration with the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC) and UK Urban AgriTech (UKUAT).
Jonathan Martin, Director at Tech 4.0, says the 2026 programme reflects a sector that has moved past early-stage questions. "The industry has moved on from 'is this possible' to 'does this actually pay'." Energy costs, lighting, water, automation, food safety, supply chain resilience, and the investment reality of scaling indoor farming are all on the agenda. "The early optimism has been tested, and the people still in the sector are working through the hard problems."
Scalability and system integration
Several confirmed sessions address the operational and design decisions that determine whether indoor farming projects succeed at scale. Fischer Farms Director of Operations Jean-Marie Graux presents the company's Norfolk facility, currently scalable to 25,000 square metres, covering how automation drives efficiency across growing, harvesting, and seeding, and what policy support would be required to make 100% renewable-powered vertical farming commercially viable.
KUBO's Serge de Reuver addresses why indoor farming projects struggle to scale, arguing that aligning energy strategy, crop requirements, and technology from the design stage is what separates stable operations from those that stall. Growy farmer Laura van de Kreeke presents the case against static grow recipes, examining how stage-based plant profiles optimise light, climate, and irrigation for each growth phase while reducing energy use and cost per kilogram.
Autonomous monitoring and farm intelligence
A cluster of sessions on Day 1 and Day 2 addresses the gap between data collection and operational decision-making. Ecobloom Technologies presents what it describes as real-time agronomic reasoning, using multispectral imaging and climate signals to move beyond dashboards toward active farm management.
Corvus Drones covers autonomous crop monitoring and AI-driven image analysis as a scalable alternative to manual phenotyping, including a Drone-as-a-Service model for operations without in-house capability. Vivent Biosignals presents work on decoding plant internal signals to detect stress and nutrient needs before visible symptoms appear.
Water, food safety, and CO2
Day 2 opens with a session from LettUs Grow on water capture, treatment, recycling, and efficient use, followed by Innovation Agritech Group on modular infrastructure with closed-loop irrigation and nutrient delivery. On the food safety side, Ceres Certifications International addresses unique risks in controlled environments, covering sanitation, environmental monitoring, and upcoming regulatory changes. Wageningen University and Research examines the energy implications of non-fossil CO2 sources, asking whether the yield gains justify the additional energy cost, with a Day 2 breakfast briefing extending the analysis to material flows and circularity.
Martin says the presentations are practitioner-led, with real substance across both days. He adds that some of the best value comes from conversations between attendees. "Growers, suppliers and researchers, identifying shared problems and working out together what the solutions look like. If people leave with a clearer head and useful connections, that's a good event."
View the full agenda here. Register here.
For more information:
Tech 4.0
Jonathan Martin, Director
[email protected]
www.tech40.net/ceaif
