Industry Trends

Microgreens market to double in five years: implications for vertical farm operators

2026-04-01

According to a report released by Mordor Intelligence in March 2026, the global microgreens market stood at $3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $5.7 billion by 2031.

The compound annual growth rate is 11.32%. That works out to the market nearly doubling in five years.

Why microgreens fit vertical farms

Microgreens are a crop well suited to vertical farms.

First, the turnover is fast. From seeding to harvest takes 7 to 14 days. Compared with lettuce, which takes 30 to 40 days, you can run many more cycles per year in the same footprint.

The high price per gram matters too. With lettuce, the per-kilo price tends to drag you into price competition with open-field growers, but microgreens are positioned as a premium ingredient.

On top of that, there is a recent move among growers to differentiate microgreens as a “functional food.” The idea is to fortify specific nutrients and sell the crop on its health benefits.

One study published in 2026 is worth mentioning: a case in which aeroponic cultivation was used to successfully produce pea shoots fortified with vitamin B12. Eating just 15 grams of these pea shoots covers the recommended daily intake of vitamin B12. And it is reportedly “feasible at extremely low cost” (Hortidaily, 2026). Efforts like this—biofortifying microgreens to boost their nutrient content—are gradually increasing both in Japan and abroad.

Once growers can demonstrate nutrient density with numbers, sales channels into the medical and health industries come into view. I am watching this as the next axis of differentiation for premium ingredients.

Because the cultivation period is short, disease risk is also low. The burden of environmental control is relatively light as well.

The report also cites, as growth drivers, health-conscious consumers seeking nutrient-dense foods, and restaurants and supermarkets expanding their premium fresh produce selections. There are also reports of medical professionals beginning to recommend that patients and consumers incorporate microgreens into their diets. My sense is that demand for microgreens is taking root as genuine demand, not just a passing trend.

For anyone about to build a new vertical farm, I think microgreens are well worth considering as a crop.

But starting in an existing facility is not easy

On the other hand, introducing them into an existing facility comes with challenges.

Many vertical farms in Japan are designed for leafy greens, and lettuce in particular. When you try to add microgreens cultivation to a farm designed for lettuce, you run into equipment-side hurdles.

It is not that you cannot make it work with ingenuity, but there are constraints on several points.

For example, in a vertical farm stacked up to 10 tiers high, the harvest workflow is fundamentally different from lettuce.

When harvesting microgreens, if you pull the trays off the shelves along with the growing medium, you need a dedicated conveyor system. Without that equipment, you end up with a considerable amount of manual work each time. Even if, instead of pulling trays off the shelves, workers climb up to the upper tiers to harvest, the cutting method and the way the edible parts are collected require a completely different procedure from lettuce.

With lettuce, the workflow is already established: pull the trays off the shelves along with the growing medium and feed them into the harvest and packaging line. Harvesting microgreens is a completely different operation. In a setup built for lettuce, each step of the harvest process—removing trays from shelves, cutting, and collecting—is not designed for microgreens.

If you are going to grow microgreens seriously, ideally you want to factor in dedicated equipment from the design stage.

Summary

Microgreens are a growth market, and a crop that fits vertical farms well.

That said, having a farm built for lettuce does not mean you can start growing microgreens right away. Starting in an existing facility requires some creative work on the equipment side.

For those considering a new build, it may be worth factoring in a design that includes a dedicated conveyor and harvest setup for microgreens from the start.

Awareness is still low in the Japanese market, but in Europe and North America, microgreens are already well established. Looking at the global trend, I think there is value in paying attention now.

Why is lettuce, by far, the most produced crop in vertical farms?