Between 2022 and mid-2026, 32 companies in the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry filed for bankruptcy, entered restructuring, or ceased operations. The first wave had a clear explanation: rising interest rates, energy price spikes, the withdrawal of cheap capital. But those conditions began to ease in 2025, and the failures continued. Distress events now account for nearly 10% of all tracked industry activity in CEA — up from under 2% in 2022. Something structural is doing the wo