Tough Times In Horticultural Lighting

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There are increasing signs of rough times in the horticultural lighting industry, including cannabis, food, flowers, and other Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) crops. Some examples include:

• Osram suggesting that growers cannot currently afford the expenditure on LED lighting because rising energy prices are consuming their budgets. Read more here.
• Signify’s CEO is also seeing a slowing of the horticultural market due to rising energy costs and other inflationary pressures. Read more here.
• EYE Lighting, including its Hortilux brand will leave the North American market in mid-2023. Read more here.
• Luxx Lighting’s recent announcement of closing down their brand. Read more here.

Despite glowing forecasts of a rosy future for the sector, there are increasing indicators that growers are facing steep challenges that are changing the CEA landscape:

• Fifth Season, a vertical grower start-up focused on using robots to grow leafy greens, shut down abruptly in the 4th Quarter of 2022.
• Glowfarms, a Netherlands-based startup, ceased operations after facing challenges of increased energy costs and a lack of support from investors.
• Recreational cannabis prices are dropping rapidly in states like Colorado and Massachusetts, causing some growers to close their doors.

In 2022, we added Agriculture to the LightNOW category list. Check out the stories from last year here.

Are you seeing additional signs of strife in the grow light industry? Please share your observations in the comment section below.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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