An exponential growth in global population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, demanding a 70% increase in agriculture productivity, thus illustrating the impact of global crop production on the environment and the importance of achieving greater agricultural yields. Globally, the variety of high-quality microgreens is increasing through indoor farming at both small and large scales. The major concept of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) seeks to provide an alternative to traditional agricultural cultivation. Microgreens have become popular in the twenty-first century as a food in the salad category that can fulfil some nutrient requirements. Microgreens are young seedlings that offer a wide spectrum of colours, flavours, and textures, and are characterised as a “functional food” due to their nutraceutical properties. Extensive research has shown that the nutrient profile of microgreens can be desirably tailored by preharvest cultivation and postharvest practices. This study provides new insight into two major categories, (i) environmental and (ii) cultural, responsible for microgreens’ growth and aims to explore the various agronomical factors involved in microgreens production. In addition, the review summarises recent studies that show these factors have a significant influence on microgreens development and nutritional composition.

Societal Impact Statement: Solutions to many of society's major challenges currently relate to plants, for example, feeding a growing global population, reducing crop water use, minimising pesticide use, and mitigating climate change, to name just a few. Solving global challenges requires high‐calibre plant science graduates with a fundamental understanding of plant evolution and the impacts of past climate change on extinction and speciation events, along with the knowledge required for sustainable global plant production, especially for food, under current and future climate change. Equipping these graduates for the future is a responsibility of university educators who must adopt innovative education methods to achieve this challenging goal.Summary: The concept of land plant evolution is difficult for botany and biology undergraduates to grasp because it spans half a billion years, a timeline that cannot be easily visualised. We established the University College Dublin (UCD) Evolution of Land Plants Garden to improve student understanding, knowledge, and engagement in a purpose‐built ‘living’ outdoor classroom in which they can ‘walk’ through land plant history. We focus on the concept, configuration, and planting, how the garden has improved student learning, and how it could be adapted for other learning outcomes. The garden is divided into five sections depicting key innovations in land plant evolution, beginning with ‘Before land plants’, followed by ‘Cuticle’ where the Bryophyta appear, ‘Vascular tissue’ with the Pteridophyta; ‘Seed’ with the gymnosperms; and ‘Flower’ with the angiosperms. Analysis of quantitative student feedback and performance indicates that students' understanding of the subject was improved significantly by ‘walking through’ a living evolutionary history in practical classes, supported by lectures, laboratory work, and online quizzes. We present a template that could be adopted widely to engage students with plant evolution, in the context of decreasing engagement with plant sciences among young people.

Microgreens are gaining prominence for their high nutritional value, rapid growth cycle, and suitability for controlled-environment agriculture (CEA). Among key agronomic factors, seed density critically influences both yield and microbial safety, and it also impacts production cost. This study evaluated: (1) the effects of various seed densities on the yield and microbial load of cress (Lepidium sativum L.), rocket (Eruca sativa), and pea (Pisum sativum L.); and (2) the influence of supplemental UV-A radiation on the biomass, microbial load, and phytochemical profile of pea microgreens. The study found that fresh biomass increased with increasing seed density across all species up to a threshold, achieving maximum yields at 12 seeds/cm² for cress and rocket and 2 seeds/cm² for pea. However, higher seed densities were also associated with increased levels of total aerobic bacteria (TAB), Enterobacteriaceae, and fungi, which could pose an increased risk of microbial hazards concerning food safety, e.g., TAB in cress increasing from 7.04 ± 0.09 to 7.94 ± 0.17 log₁₀CFU/g as seed density increases from 6 to 14 seeds/cm². Initially white light supplemented with UV-A recorded a lower yield (11 g) compared to white light (13 g), but the final biomass was comparable under both lights, with microbial load remaining stable at ~3.8–4.2 log₁₀ CFU/g. A temporary increase in carotenoids exhibited significantly higher levels (2.00± 0.29 µg/mg DW) under white light supplemented with UV-A radiation compared to white light alone (1.48 ± 0.23 µg/mg DW). However, these increases were not maintained throughout the growing period. These results indicate that optimising seed density in these species is vital for balancing productivity and food safety, and continuous UV-A exposure did not lead to sustained higher phytochemical levels or reduced microbial load compared with white light alone.

Introduction: The use of pesticides in agriculture is crucial for crop protection although it potentially poses risks to the environment and human health. This has led to European Union initiatives to reduce chemical pesticide inputs which has driven innovation for more environmentally sustainable solutions. Biostimulants, including silicon‐based products, represent a promising strategy to improve crop growth and quality in horticultural crops, such as strawberries. This research investigates silicon‐based biostimulants and their impact on production and disease control in strawberry crops.Material and Methods: Three commercial style trials were conducted in glasshouse and polytunnel growing environments to evaluate different silicon‐based biostimulant (Si_bio) products and application methods against a standard pesticide and reduced pesticide programme.Results: The main findings of this research point to growing system having a major effect on strawberry production where biostimulants are used, with a positive effect of biostimulant use only noted in the polytunnel system. Our results show that although certain parameters responded positively to silicon‐based biostimulant application, such as increases to total weight and total yield, these were only significant in a single trial. Where overall yield increases were detected, this did not result in an increase in marketable yield. Pesticides remain more effective than biostimulants in reducing disease incidence of the fungal diseases grey mould and powdery mildew.Conclusion: The impact on most agronomic parameters was limited and inconsistent across trials, however this work expands our understanding of the effectiveness of silicon biostimulants in strawberry production and disease management.