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Farm Resilience

Resource Innovation Institute (RII) is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing climate resilience. RII provides resource efficiency education, training and verification services, in collaboration with CEA producers, researchers, governments, utilities, and the design & construction sector.

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Our Story

To drive a resource efficient agricultural future, we establish industry standards, facilitate best practices, and advocate for effective policies and utility incentives.

Resource Innovation Institute achieves its mission by focusing our work in three areas:

Baselines & Benchmarks, Policies & Programs, Standards & Best Practices.

USDA-sponsored, peer-reviewed CEA Best Practices Guides coming throughout 2023

Peer-reviewed educational reports are invaluable to producers. RII offers Best Practices Guides designed specifically for producers of food, floriculture and medicine, as well as key market actors like governments and utilities. These reports, sponsored  by partners like the USDA, are written by RII’s technical team with insights from our subject matter expert Technical Advisory Council faculty members. Topics covered include:

  • Water Circularity
  • Lighting
  • HVAC
  • Design & Construction
  • Controls & Automation
  • Utility Program Design & Market Engagement
  • Policies, Codes & Industry Standards
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RII Curriculum & Events
Our educational courses assemble trusted industry subject matter experts and feature growers of all kinds.

Efficient Yields cultivation workshops for producers. Best practices on energy, water efficiency, and productivity.  ➝

Harvesting Savings workshops for utilities & programs. Best practices on energy efficiency for indoor agriculture.  ➝

Growing Efficiency workshops for design & construction. Best practices on design and construction for horticulture.  ➝

Latest News
September 14, 2023 in Press Release

RII Joins with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Leaders to Standardize Environmental Understanding of Modern Farming Methods

"CEA Footprint Project" will establish methodologies for measuring  agricultural energy use, water use, overall carbon footprint and other environmental factors   PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 14, 2023) —  Resource Innovation Institute (RII),  a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing climate resilience, announced today the formation of the “CEA Footprint Project,” which will bring experts together from across the industry…
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Quick Links
Press Releases
Blog posts
Published Stories
Events
November 22, 2023 in Blog

Airflow Design for Vertical Farms: 5 Tips

The pursuit of optimal crop yields and resource efficiency has led to groundbreaking innovations in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility design. The popularization of light-emitted diode (LED) fixtures in recent years has preceded a boom in vertical farming in both indoor and greenhouse environments. These tiered systems allow operators to maximize production by multiplying their…
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October 30, 2023 in Blog

How CEA Can Connect With Utilities to Unlock Rebates & Incentives: 5 Tips

CEA operators (including cannabis growers) may or may not be aware that their facility upgrade projects might be eligible for various incentive and rebate projects that can offset costs for a variety of equipment, or even make those projects economically feasible. To help understand how these programs work and their requirements and opportunities, Cody Allen,…
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October 24, 2023 in Blog

Minimum Liquid Discharge: An Attainable CEA Water Circularity Status

Sustainability is the bedrock upon which the future of food production rests. As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation, the need for innovative solutions in agriculture has never been more pressing. To address these issues, CEA facilities are increasingly pursuing Minimum Liquid Discharge (MLD) or even Zero…
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EDUCATION

Improve Your Efficiency With RII’s Best Practices Guides

The horticultural market has changed a lot, technology has advanced, and so have the technical terms used to describe everything. RII’s peer reviewed Best Practices Guides help growers understand the most resource efficient HVAC and lighting technologies for cannabis and controlled environment agriculture. We are here to show growers how to use efficient

➝ Download Reports

INTELLIGENCE

Resource Benchmarking, Baselines & Standards

PowerScore, our resource benchmarking platform analyzes facility-level performance on energy, emissions, water and waste. We help compare farm performance against similar peers. Cultivators and their supply chain partners can assess differences between HVAC and lighting technologies designed for cannabis cultivation.

➝ See PowerScore

POLICY & UTILITY COORDINATION

Resource Efficient Controlled Environment Agriculture

As an objective, data-driven non-profit organization, RII informs effective policies and incentives that accelerate conservation. RII has provided a trusted, stakeholder-driven voice as leading jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, California, Illinois and Colorado, have established policies and codes addressing the energy and water impacts of cannabis cultivation and controlled environment agriculture. In late 2019, RII formed its Utility Working Group on Controlled Environment Agriculture to enable power suppliers and energy efficiency program administrators to learn from each other and advance best practices on program design, savings methodologies and grower outreach.

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Featured Press
Resource Innovation Institute: Advancing Resource Efficiency to Create a Better Agricultural Future