  Demand response (DR) programs currently cover about 2\% of the average annual
global demand, which is far from contributing to the International Energy
Agency's ``Net Zero by 2050'' roadmap's 20\% target. While aggregation of many
small flexible loads such as individual households can help reaching this
target, increasing the participation of industries that are major electricity
consumers is certainly a way forward. The indoor agriculture sector currently
experiences a significant growth to partake in the sustainable production of
high-quality food world-wide. As energy-related costs, up to 40\% of the total
expenses, may preclude full maturity of this industry, DR participation can
result in a win-win situation. Indeed, the agriculture system must transform
and become a sustainable source of food for an increasing number of people
worldwide under the constraints of preservation of soils and water, carbon
footprint, and energy efficiency. We considered the case of the Russian
Federation where indoor farming is burgeoning and already represents a load of
several thousand megawatts. To show the viability of the indoor farming
industry participation in implicit and explicit DR programs, we built a
physical model of a vertical farm inside a phytotron with complete control of
environmental parameters including ambient temperature, relative humidity,
CO$_2$ concentration, and photosynthetic photon flux density. This phytotron
was used as a model greenhouse. We grew different varieties of leafy plants
under simulated DR conditions and control conditions on the same setup. Our
results show that the indoor farming dedicated to greens can participate in DR
without adversely affecting plant production and that this presents an economic
advantage.
