I think this sort of work is important because it gives us data to focus on improving. Like solar power efficiencies, I think there is lots of room to improve on vertical farming output which will be vital for a few reasons.

Reason one, is that I think one lesson we've learned and are still learning is that the original model of the internet that senses damage and routes around it is still a strong model, and I think the same applies to food. To reduce the impact of food shortages, we need to get more people farming again essentially, and a small vertical farm can be had for those people regardless of if they have land or suitable land for traditional growing, and the cost are likely to be similar to solar panels and be one that is subsidized at first or at least given tax breaks.

Reason two is that I think the same work will be of vital importance for future space faring missions. If we can get closed loop ecosystem sustainability heavily improved we might be ready for something like a real Mars trip/settlement etc. Personally I advocate for adding other systems to the closed loop to feed off each other, aka auqoponics, etc to add a meat source (fish) into the loop etc.

So we have a decent study on wheat. Now lets get the yield potentials for everything else under the sun so we can start optimizing better. Probably end up with focus on whatever has the highest calorie output to price to produce ratio.