It's called, "Optimia" short for optimizing indoor agriculture. It's a research initiative supported by USDA being carried out in several universities. The goal is to help make this emerging industry of controlled environment or other indoor growing systems more efficient and more able to report a profit.

Scientists are currently studying all kinds of combinations of kinds of light, temperature, humidity, and other  factors, and how they effect the production of things like lettuce and other leafy greens.

But what about how these variables effect the eating quality and the taste of crops?

Michigan State University's Roberto Lopez, says they haven't been able to do any consumer taste panels yet. 

"One of the challenges that we currently have with the consumer panels in fact we just received an email from the university yesterday is that any type of  research that we do with obviously human subjects is gonna have to wait until after the pandemic."

But they do intend to do taste panels because the eating quality of crops will be an important factor in making indoor agriculture a feasible and profitable endeavor. 

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