MTSys controlled environment agriculture facility combining greenhouse daylight and LED-lit vertical growing

The problem

Where CEA projects fail

Most controlled environment agriculture (CEA) projects, whether vertical farms or high-tech greenhouses, do not fail on crop science. They fail because the crop costs too much to produce. Three forces push the cost per kilogram too high. Capital expenditure is inflated by indoor farming facilities that are over-built for the site. Operating expenses run away through energy, LED lighting, HVAC and labour that were never sized to local conditions. And productivity stays too low to spread those costs across enough yield.

The approach

One platform for greenhouses and vertical farms

MTSys is a modular moving-cultivation platform that runs wherever the location demands: daylight-fed greenhouses or fully enclosed indoor vertical farms, new-build or retrofit, chosen on one basis, the lowest cost per kilogram for that crop and site.

In every case it lowers both CapEx and OpEx. The automated monorail replaces bespoke robotics, removes aisles and raises growing density, so capital per kilo falls and automation is added only where local labour cost justifies it.

Before anything is built, Dutch Lion helps build and validate the business case rather than assume it. Together we run the unit economics and test the crop through real crop trials, then use that evidence to guide the decisions that make or break a CEA facility: greenhouse or vertical farm, new-build or retrofit, and how far to automate.

Greenhouse CEA

Use free daylight and existing structures; retrofit MTSys bay-by-bay without shutting down production.

Vertical farm CEA

Move towers through zoned LED lighting for high-density indoor farming in constrained urban or peri-urban sites.

Hybrid facilities

Combine both approaches on one shared platform.

The numbers

The numbers investors ask for

CAPEX under €1,000/m² and as low as ~€650/m² at scale, as covered by HortiDaily. Unit economics are validated by the Naaldwijk pilot, not modelled. We can share the project data and the press coverage behind those numbers, and we will walk through the assumptions line by line with your team — no NDAs required for the headline figures.

Want to see what your business case could look like?

Design your CEA facility with MTSys

Whether you are planning a greenhouse retrofit, a new vertical farm or a hybrid facility, we will map MTSys onto your site, crop and business case.