Where data
meets soil
Anthea stands at the intersection of vertical farming, plant physiology, microbiology, and agroecology. Four research areas, one practical goal.
Environmental Conditioning
We use controlled-environment agriculture as a platform to tune light spectra and intensity, modulate temperature, humidity, and VPD, and standardise irrigation and nutrient regimes.
This allows us to test how early-life conditions affect later performance in the field — and to develop conditioning protocols that transfer well from CEA to real agricultural systems.
Microbial and Mycorrhizal Inoculation
We study and apply beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth-promoting microbes (PGPM). Our research includes RNA-seq analysis comparing AMF responses across domesticated and wild tomato accessions.
Our goal is to create seedlings that arrive in the soil with a ready-made microbial support network — reducing transplant shock and improving long-term nutrient access.
Vertical Farming as a Precision Tool
Rather than aiming to move all food production into vertical farms, we use vertical farming as a precision laboratory: to run repeatable trials, to separate environmental and genetic effects, and to prototype conditioning protocols before scaling to farms.
This positions Anthea as the upstream intelligence layer of vertical and controlled-environment production — not just another nursery.
Regenerative Orchard Experiments
Our regenerative orchard provides long-term field conditions, a complex living ecosystem for seedlings to prove themselves, and a space where data meets landscape.
We see Anthea as an evolving field laboratory where science and practice co-design better plants.
Peer-reviewed science
Anthea's science is grounded in four peer-reviewed publications including two first-author papers in Nature Communications and Environmental Microbiology, covering mycorrhizal network analysis, soil fungal community ecology, and AMF–plant transcriptomics.
Nature Communications
Soil fungal community network analysis
Environmental Microbiology
AMF ecology and plant interaction