Originally posted by warrenchmobile:

A close look at your screenshot reveals that sunlight does pass through cage floors. If it did not, the wall to the left of the picture would be the same dark shade as the other two walls.

Your enclosure is only six meters wide and it is two meters taller than it needs to be. Make your atrium wider and shorter and you may well have enough space in the center to grow some barley.

That's not the issue though as my crops grow just fine in that space when there is not a cage floor above them. Go in game and test it for yourself. Cage floors do not allow the sunlight effect that is needed for crops to grow to pass through, while on the other hand, the lighting effect does. I think the context of my original post was rather clear on that but I will edit it to avoid confusion.

To prove that space is not the issue, here's a screenshot of the same space albeit slightly smaller after I worked on it a bit but if space were the issue, it would say "Needs more room to grow" above the crop.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2615483594