This episode is part of our “What Plants Crave” series, where Dr. Sabeh speaks with growers, researchers, engineers, and manufacturers who work in controlled environment agriculture, to get their insights about the direction of the industry, and of course, what exactly it is that plants crave.

This week’s episode continues our interview with Neil Mattson. Neil is a Professor in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University. His position is 50% research, 30% extension, and 20% teaching and he serves as a statewide greenhouse specialist. Neil joined Cornell in 2007 after completing his PhD from the University of California Davis and master’s from the University of Minnesota. Mattson is the director of Cornell’s Controlled Environment Agriculture program and co-academic principal investigator of the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE), a public-private consortium that de-risks adoption of energy efficient greenhouse technologies. Mattson’s research is focused on optimizing performance and resource use efficiency while increasing the profitability of vegetables, small fruits, and floriculture crops in protected environments. Specific research interests include strategies to reduce energy use in lighting through LED adoption and intelligent light controls, sustainable fertilization practices, and development of new CEA crops. Mattson has authored/co-authored 72 journal articles and 30 refereed book chapters and conference proceedings. Through Mattson’s extension appointment and GLASE, the Cornell CEA program maintains direct relationships with CEA producers and allied trade across the U.S. Translating research into industry accessible bulletins and presentations is an important programmatic strength. Mattson has delivered 347 presentations and 27 webinars to more than 15,000 industry members and authored/co-authored 74 trade journal articles and 111 extension bulletins.

In this second half they discuss various aspects of controlled environment agriculture, including plant nutrition, lighting, and environmental control strategies. Neil shares insights from his research and experience, highlighting the importance of optimizing growing conditions to improve crop yield and quality. The conversation also touches on challenges and future directions in the field, providing valuable information for growers and researchers interested in advancing controlled environment agriculture practices.