Kennedy Chase | Sep. 08, 2026
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2026/09/08/ai-indoor-farming-
RALEIGH, N.C. — Forget acres of farmland. At AGEYE, crops are growing upward, stacked in layers inside a controlled environment. The company uses artificial intelligence to monitor plants and help growers make decisions about everything from conditions to resource use.
“We track every single metric about plants that we capture. So as you look here, this is going to be the temperature distribution of every single one of the plants across the entire rack. So we can quickly determine where the microclimates are, where there’s potential issues for pathogens, mold and mildew, things like,” AGEYE CEO Nick Gentry said.
Gentry said he launched the company eight years ago. He says bringing farming indoors means growers have much more control over the environment. That can mean less dependence on weather and cutting down on pests and other challenges that come with traditional agriculture, including how quickly crops can grow.
“Typically, a harvest for a plant with a system like this is around 21 to 24 days. Compare that to a traditional outdoor crop, and it’s almost half as long. So we’re able to grow very, very quickly, and the crops grow in a much denser pattern,” Gentry said.
The controlled environment can also allow growers to carefully manage water, nutrients and lighting. Gentry said they can grow any and all types of produce.
“We’ve had success growing everything from leafy greens to basil to arugula to cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries. Any of the high-value produce is really what we focus on,” Gentry said.
Along with AI analytics, the farming system is completely controlled by robotics.
“The entire system is automated seed to sale. So from the initial planting, the seed all the way through, transplanting into the larger rack all the way through a harvest, cleaning and packaging is completely hands off, done by robotics,” Gentry said.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture says, “AI is the latest technology and with the help of the research and business communities we anticipate our farmers will find ways to implement this technology in a useful and dynamic way. The goal isn’t necessarily to replace traditional farming but to make it healthier and more efficient.”
“One of the things that really drew us to indoor farming was just the true visibility of how the food is being grown, what’s being used to grow your food?” Gentry said.
Companies like AGEYE see indoor agriculture as another tool that can grow produce in a safe and healthy way.
“It’s really eye-opening when you start thinking about all of the produce that’s grown on the West Coast, in Southern California and in New Mexico and Arizona. There’s just a lot of ways that’s contaminated. By the time it gets harvested all the way to the time it gets to your plate,” Gentry said.
As technology continues to move into agriculture, AI could play a role in deciding not just how food is grown — but how efficiently it gets from seed to harvest. AGEYE produce isn’t being sold in grocery stores yet, but restaurants and hotels around the world use their produce, including the Ritz Carlton in Dubai.