Plant growth without light: Genetic engineering method revolutionizes indoor farming.

A startup is working on an innovation in indoor farming that could save significant resources. The company is turning off the lights.

Plants need light. Everyone who has ever forgotten their houseplant in the basement knows that. But is it possible without sunlight? The U.S. startup Square Roots is developing a method where plants are no longer dependent on light. Instead of sunlight, their plants use acetates — salts or esters of acetic acid — as an energy source. The key to this is genetic engineering. Using technologies like CRISPR, the plants are modified so they can derive their energy from acetates rather than through photosynthesis.

This method has the potential to fundamentally transform indoor farming. So far, artificial lighting has been one of the biggest cost and emission drivers in vertical farming operations. Eliminating light could significantly reduce operating costs and CO₂ emissions, which would be especially attractive for regions with high energy prices or unstable power grids. “The ability of indoor farms to grow fresh, nutritious food year-round, anywhere, and regardless of outside climate is obviously attractive,” says Tobias Peggs, CEO of Square Roots. “But until now, this solution has been very energy-intensive. By removing light from an indoor farming system and thereby reducing both costs and carbon output, this program could bring enormous benefits for the future of global food security.”

Square Roots has been researching the dark-growing method using thale cress. Initial cultivation trials are focusing on lettuces and so-called SPACE tomatoes, which have been further modified to produce more fruit and fewer vines. In future phases, the company hopes to grow more calorie-dense crops such as sweet potatoes and cassava. “Our expertise in indoor farming and plant science, along with our flexible, modular infrastructure and smart software, makes Square Roots the ideal partner to accelerate agricultural research,” Peggs explains. The technology is currently being tested in the company’s modular, climate-controlled farming containers.

Square Roots began in New York and has been supported with $4.4 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. The company now plans to establish a presence in Tokyo to expand its business in Asia. The goal is to collaborate with local farmers to grow specialty crops year-round and address challenges such as climate change and demographic shifts. Working with traditional farming operations aims to preserve farmers’ knowledge while enabling new cultivation methods. The example of Square Roots illustrates how new biotechnological and systemic approaches could make agriculture less dependent on location or weather — and perhaps even, in the future, independent of light.