Smart Floriculture for Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

The floriculture industry, encompassing the cultivation and commercial exchange of ornamental plants, cut flowers, potted plants, and floral foliage, represents one of the most important and fastest-growing parts of the world's gardening industry. While traditional flower farming is profitable, it uses a lot of resources, causes, environmental problems and makes it hard to find workers. It also makes it hard to deal with  climate change. Smart floriculture—an integrated paradigm that leverages digital technologies, precision agriculture tools, advanced cultivation systems, and circular economy principles—presents a transformative pathway towards a more efficient, resilient, and ecologically responsible global flower industry. This review synthesises current scientific literature on the convergence of smart technologies and sustainable practices within the floriculture sector, examining the roles of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, remote sensing, digital twins, and big data analytics in optimising production systems and supply chains. The contribution of controlled environment agriculture, including advanced greenhouse systems, vertical farming, and spectrally optimised LED lighting technology, in reducing the environmental footprint of flower production is evaluated. The article further explores sustainable agronomic practices encompassing precision water and nutrient management, integrated pest management, innovative peat-free growing media, and life cycle assessment approaches. The biotechnological dimension of floriculture—including genetic improvement for flower colour, longevity, and stress tolerance—is reviewed alongside the digital transformation of the supply chain and relevant policy and certification frameworks. Despite notable progress, considerable challenges remain regarding technology accessibility, high initial investment costs, digital literacy amongst smallholder producers, regulatory harmonisation, and the equitable distribution of sustainability benefits across global value chains. The review ends by pointing out what research and policy changes are needed to make the most of smart floriculture to support sustainable development.