Protected cultivation is the practice of growing crops inside structures that moderate the outside climate, and it has evolved over two millennia: from simple mica-covered Roman frames to fully automated, sensor-driven glasshouses. This chapter traces that evolution, classifies the principal structures used in modern protected cultivation along with their comparative significance, and examines the shift toward "smart greenhouses" built on the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless sensor networks, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics. Because vegetable science sits at the centre of this technology's economics, particular attention is given to high-value vegetable crops (capsicum, tomato, cucumber, and exotic or off-season vegetables), alongside fruit and floriculture crops. Global evidence is drawn from the high-technology glasshouse clusters of the Netherlands and China as well as Mediterranean low-cost polyhouses, and is set against a detailed account of Indian trends, including government schemes such as the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), and the National Horticulture Board (NHB), along with comparative global and Indian market-size figures.
Protected Cultivation and Smart Greenhouse Technology: From Traditional Structures to Intelligent, Data-Driven Systems
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