It’s a question we often hear at greenhub:

“Which is better vertical or greenhouse farming?”

Over the past few years, many reports and studies have tried to compare the two. But the reality is: it’s like comparing apples to pears. Vertical farming is still a young, fast-evolving field without standard benchmarks. Greenhouse cultivation, on the other hand, is a mature, global industry, but one that looks very different depending on where you are.

Instead of framing it as a competition, we believe it’s more useful to see them as part of the same movement: Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).

Each system has its strengths.
🌞 Greenhouses work with natural sunlight and thrive in spring and summer. With supplemental lighting and heating, they can stretch the season even further.
🌆 Vertical farms actively create optimal growing conditions year-round and is especially valuable in cities, extreme climates, or when consistency is critical.

And sometimes, the smartest setup is a hybrid approach.
For example: using vertical farming for propagation and early growth, and finishing crops in the greenhouse. This can lead to a clean, uniform, and strong start which often pays off later in the cycle.

At the end of the day, the best solution depends on your crop, market, location, energy setup, and climate conditions.

It’s not about either-or.
It’s about making systems work together and choosing the elements that fit your goals and in the whole process.

Let’s shift the conversation from comparison to collaboration.
That’s where the real innovation happens.