VERTICAL FARMING - A RISING INDUSTRY IN UK (Pt 3)

VERTICAL FARMING are growing crops in vertically stacked layers in an indoor environment and it is well known for the producing fast-growing crops. Under the carefully controlled conditions used by vertical farms, plants such as herbs and leafy greens can go from seed to sprout to harvest in a matter of weeks, which is usually a much shorter timeline than that offered by conventional agriculture. So it seems fitting enough that the entire vertical farming sector, not just the crops it produces, is experiencing equally rapid growth. Worldwide, the vertical farming industry was valued at USD2.24 billion in 2018, and experts predict that by 2026 that figure will increase to almost USD13 billion or nearly a six-fold increase. Actually being able to produce crops 365 days a year and without the need for pesticides or much human intervention, while being unaffected by the weather and will appeal to many growers after such prolonged at wet autumn the vertical farming technology sometimes called indoor farming is the practice of growing plants under fully controlled conditions in buildings in many stacked layers, without solar light. Unlike glasshouse production in which relies on sunlight, it makes use of LED lighting to provide different wavelengths of light, according to crop and growth stage need. Together with soil-less growing techniques and environmental control systems, vertical farming is a specialist business. Vertical farming is actually what is it?. This blog 'Anim Agriculture Technology' share an info about tje rising industry of vertical farming in UK and amany other states.

In this case a question ablout either a Hydroponics or Aeroponics to be applied?. The answer was both hydroponics and aeroponics deal with plants without the traditional growing medium of soil. How the plants’ roots are situated in the systems determines the way in which they receive nutrients. In hydroponic systems, the roots are submerged in water and nutrients are delivered in the water. In aeroponics, the roots are exposed and sprayed with a mist containing water and nutrients, resulting in a humid, fog-like environment. Much of this plant growth so far has been concentrated in early-adopter countries, notably the US and Japan, but other countries and regions are catching on quickly. In the UK, for example, vertical farming (along with other forms of indoor and urban agriculture) has taken off in a big way over the past few years. With several dense urban areas, a large population that is increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of food production, and a reputation for technological leadership and innovation, the UK is in many ways the perfect home for a thriving indoor farming scene. In the past year alone, a number of major new vertical and indoor farming projects have been announced  including a plan from the Edinburgh-based company Shockingly Fresh to expand from five to 40 sites  while existing projects, facilities, and companies are seeing impressive growth in their operations due to increased investment and interest.

Latest that the highlights of the UK’s thriving indoor and vertical farming scene include the growing underground, square mile farm, farm urban and LettUs Grow approach. Many probably wouldn’t expect to find fresh microgreens and salad leaves growing 33 meters below the bustling streets of the south London neighborhood of Clapham, but that’s exactly what you’ll encounter at Growing Underground. Billing itself as “the world’s first underground farm,” Growing Underground has transformed a World War II deep-level bomb shelter into a highly sophisticated indoor farm. During the war years, the bunker housed as many as 8,000 troops; today, after 70 years of post-war abandonment, the underground tunnels are home to a hydroponic growing facility illuminated by the latest LED lighting systems. Produce grown at Growing Underground can be found at some of the UK’s biggest retail outlets, including Marks & Spencer. The facility also offers regular farm tours for curious members of the general public. The Square Mile Farms are another London-based vertical farming operation that has been garnering plenty of attention is Square Mile Farms, which is located in the capital city’s busy work and social hub of Paddington Central. The hydroponic growing facility sits on the rooftop of the new mixed-use building at 2 Kingdom Street, where in-demand produce such as kale, fennel, and basil is grown using vertical towers and no soil.  Given its busy central location, Square Mile Farms hopes to make ongoing connections with the Paddington community and to inspire neighborhood residents to take an interest in local, sustainable, nutritious food. The farm aims to achieve this goal not only through its fresh crops, but also by hosting workshops and events centered around food and farming. For example, How to Grow Your Own Microgreens is a popular ongoing workshop offered at the farm, while other recent talks have covered topics such as the basics of healthy eating and how to minimize food waste.

For Farm Urban actually there are many innovative vertical and indoor farming projects popping up in the UK’s capital, but London is far from the only city where vertical farms are growing. Liverpool, for example, is home to a technically advanced vertical farm that has already been in operation for half a decade. Founded by two academics in 2014, Farm Urban is housed in the deep basement of a former sugar factory; the hydroponic operation not only grows crops for commercial sale, it also serves as a department of the Liverpool Life Sciences University Technical College. Since Farm Urban was established, its two co-founders have gone on to install hydroponic vertical growing systems at a number of other major public sites, including the University of Liverpool, the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, and the Ness Botanic Gardens. The LettUs Grow concept in which most vertical and indoor farms rely heavily on advanced technology in order to be able to create the perfect growing conditions all year round for their crops. This kind of technology is basically developed and provided by companies like LettUs Grow, a Bristol-based enterprise that designs hardware and software for indoor growing facilities. Some of the key focus areas for LettUs Grow are aeroponic growing operations with this growing technique, plants’ roots are not submerged in a nutrient solution but suspended in air and misted with the solution. LettUs Grow also focuses on closed-loop control via the company’s cloud-hosted Ostara platform, as well as data capture tools that allow growers to understand exactly how their crops are doing and what adjustments need to be made. This article divided in 3 segment that was Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 respectively. Thanks.

By,

M Anim,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.

(Wrote in December 2020).

This rticle updated in August 2024.

VERTICAL FARMING - A RISING INDUSTRY IN UK (Pt 2)

VERTICAL FARMING are growing crops in vertically stacked layers in an indoor environment and it is well known for the producing fast-growing crops. Under the carefully controlled conditions used by vertical farms, plants such as herbs and leafy greens can go from seed to sprout to harvest in a matter of weeks, which is usually a much shorter timeline than that offered by conventional agriculture. So it seems fitting enough that the entire vertical farming sector, not just the crops it produces, is experiencing equally rapid growth. Worldwide, the vertical farming industry was valued at USD2.24 billion in 2018, and experts predict that by 2026, that figure will increase to almost USD13 billion or nearly a six-fold increase. Actually being able to produce crops 365 days a year and without the need for pesticides or much human intervention, while being unaffected by the weather and will appeal to many growers after such prolonged at wet autumn the vertical farming technology sometimes called indoor farming is the practice of growing plants under fully controlled conditions in buildings in many stacked layers, without solar light. Unlike glasshouse production in which relies on sunlight, it makes use of LED lighting to provide different wavelengths of light, according to crop and growth stage need. Together with soil-less growing techniques and environmental control systems, vertical farming is a specialist business. Vertical farming is actually what is it?. This blog 'Anim Agriculture Technology' share an info about tje rising industry of vertical farming in UK and amany other states.

The technological advances according to Leo Marcelis of Wageningen University in which the vertical farming industry received a kick start from advances in the performance of LED lighting, which can be used to provide the type of light that different plant species need at a much better price than the previously used high-pressure sodium lamps. This is the most interesting bit. “LED lights, which are essential for replicating natural daylight, can be used to change the way plants grow, when they flower and how they taste. It’s all about varying the spectrum used at different growth stages. LED lights have other advantages, he notes. They can be arrange and positioned between plants and layers, produce hardly any heat radiation and are more energy efficient. Asked whether vertical farming is sustainable, Prof Marcelis says that the current bottleneck is energy use. It meets so many basic requirements such as much lower water and nutrient use but the technology is energy-intensive. Of course the technology is improving all the time, especially with lower-cost LED lighting and other technical developments. Vertical farming is capital intensive too. Plenty of start-up funding is required, with pay-back times depending on the unit’s operational efficiency and chosen retail route. While some have failed, others are finally starting to make small profits.

Report by a scientist in a case Study by a company named  LettUs Grow in which the extreme weather events and consumer demand for freshness are the two reasons LettUs Grow’s co-founder Charlie Guy (pictured) cites as being behind the current interest in vertical farming. In addition, being able to get consistent yields and produce quality for 12 months of the year, with the traceability and integrity that supply chains require, is opening up market opportunities for both existing growers and entrepreneurs. Whether it’s a very cold spell, such as the Beast from the East, or a lengthy summer drought bringing water shortages, the frequency of extreme weather events is increasing. This has a cost to both growers and consumers. For the diversification, his Bristol-based company designs the hardware and software needs for indoor growing facilities and is seeing interest from traditional producers, who are looking at an indoor system as a diversification project. For existing growers, they can add a valuable revenue stream. They are predictable and scaleable, offer year-round production and tend to fit in well with existing projects such as renewable energy and anaerobic digesters. 

About the technology, the LettUs Grow concept is based on aeroponics and a technology platform known as Ostara. Aeroponics give better growth rates than hydroponics, he claims, while using up to 95% less water than conventional agriculture. Aeroponics puts more oxygen in the root zone, which is why the plants perform better. Ostara known as its cloud-hosted software which offers closed loop control. Mr Guy explains it that does the data capture and automated control of the growing environment, bringing the food safety and traceability that’s needed, but also offering the potential to use sensors and robotic technology. That’s important, because energy and labour should be the two key areas of focus with any vertical farming project. They have the final say on profitability. Vertical farming is not just about lettuce, he stresses. “Although the focus has been on high-value herbs and pea shoots, there are around 60 different crops that can be grown in this way. The key to choosing what’s right for you is to look at what access you have to various markets, rather than opting for the fashionable crops. 

This article divided in 3 segment that was Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 respectively. Thanks.

By,

M Anim,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.

(December 2020).

Updated August 2024.

VERTICAL FARMING - A RISING INDUSTRY IN UK (Pt 1)

VERTICAL FARMING are growing crops in vertically stacked layers in an indoor environment and it is well known for the producing fast-growing crops. Under the carefully controlled conditions used by vertical farms, plants such as herbs and leafy greens can go from seed to sprout to harvest in a matter of weeks, which is usually a much shorter timeline than that offered by conventional agriculture. So it seems fitting enough that the entire vertical farming sector, not just the crops it produces, is experiencing equally rapid growth. Worldwide, the vertical farming industry was valued at USD2.24 billion in 2018, and experts predict that by 2026, that figure will increase to almost USD13 billion or nearly a six-fold increase. Actually being able to produce crops 365 days a year and without the need for pesticides or much human intervention, while being unaffected by the weather and will appeal to many growers after such prolonged at wet autumn the vertical farming technology sometimes called indoor farming is the practice of growing plants under fully controlled conditions in buildings in many stacked layers, without solar light. Unlike glasshouse production in which relies on sunlight, it makes use of LED lighting to provide different wavelengths of light, according to crop and growth stage need. Together with soil-less growing techniques and environmental control systems, vertical farming is a specialist business. Vertical farming is actually what is it?. This blog 'Anim Agriculture Technology' share an info about tje rising industry of vertical farming in UK and amany other states.

The practice of growing crops in stacked layers in which the vertical farming often incorporates controlled environment agriculture and can be housed in buildings, shipping containers, underground tunnels and even abandoned mine shafts. Vertical farms use soil-free growing techniques and stack crops in specially designed beds and trays, making use of artificial lighting and climate control to get the desired results. During the growing process, four elements are controlled that was lighting, irrigation, fertigation and the climate. It was a global and fast-growing technology for consistent food production. And it’s a fast-growing sector. Worldwide reported that it was worth £1.72billion in 2018 with experts predicting that it will rise to £9.84bn by 2026. Japan and the US are leading the way but other countries are now catching on. Enthusiasts say that vertical farming offers a means of guaranteeing yields and reducing the industry’s environmental impact, while improving the supply of safe, healthy and nutritious food and minimizing the miles involved in its distribution. Malaysia as a developed nation are currently move toward the application of vertical farming technology even though at an early stage. Their vision are locally grown, quick-to-market fruit and vegetables, produced in the neighborhood where it is consumed, with the traceability and integrity that food supply chains demand and is already being delivered by various facilities worldwide.

However this technology are many solutions to challenges to be implemented. These high-tech units are presented as the solution to many of the challenges facing traditional production methods, such as pollution and water use and even if they are currently limited to higher- or added-value crops in order to be profitable. As they spring up around the world, they are also seen as a means of reducing reliance on food imports. The use of automation and robotics to keep human intervention and labor costs to a minimum is attracting interest, while less food waste and making better use of limited land space are bonus features too. It was a trends driving vertical farming in which consider the environmental impact of food production. It related to the high demand for healthy, safe food, Legislation, Urbanization, growing world population. scarcity of natural resources and the changing eating habits. For the UK projects there have been several big projects announced in the last 12 months. Edinburgh-based Shockingly Fresh has ambitions to develop 40 sites and already has five on the go and one in Scotland and four in England. Ocado is involved too of having invested £17m in the sector during 2019. That has seen it enter a joint venture with 32ha, a US firm, and Priva Holdings in the Netherlands, known as Infinite Acres. It has also taken a 58% stake in Jones Food Company, a Lincolnshire-based business producing 420t of leafy greens each year at a facility of 5,120sq m or equivalent in size to 26 tennis courts. In London, there is Growing Underground, which produces micro greens and salad leaves below the busy streets of Clapham, while in Bristol there is LettUs Grow, which provides the cutting edge technology required. This article divided in 3 segment that was Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 respectively.

Thanks.

By,

M Anim,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.

(December 2020).