There is growing interest in the Middle East for agri-tech, particularly in controlled environment agriculture; algae-based biofuels; precision agriculture and agricultural robotics – areas where Agri-TechE members have considerable strengths.
“There’s a skills shortage for protected cropping,” Jock explains. “We’re looking to create a vibrant protected cropping industry in the UK by licensing our large-scale vertical hydroponics facilities… and our customers will also require skilled operators to manage these facilities.”
Johnathan Ransom of Square Mile Farms started with the concept of ‘flat pack farms’ for urban areas and now, through its Office Farming model, is bringing vertical, urban farms to the workplaces of big businesses to help them achieve their sustainability and employee wellbeing goals. The company is opening a crowdfunding round.
Vertical farming and controlled environment farming will feature in a forthcoming Agri-TechE event
Hydroponics company Phytoponics has just completed a £500,000 equity financing round. The company specialises in Deep Water Culture systems, where plant growing modules are kept oxygenated by built in aerators and serviced by a computerised nutrient control system. A major produce grower, Edward Baarda Limited, has become the first commercial grower in the UK to deploy Phytoponics technology at scale.
LettUs Grow, an indoor farming technology provider, is fast-tracking the building of two vertical farm modules in the city of Bristol during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Innovate vertical farm will produce fresh food in 10 days and will donate the fresh produce to those in need in Bristol
Can we really feed 40,000 people with a ‘SkyFarm’? Or will everyone in London have a ‘Personal Food Computer’ by 2040? Provocative questions…
“We need to get honest about three things: the economics; the climate impact; and the range and quality of things that we can actually grow. Until we start to get a really serious narrative about that, the CEA industry will never move forward,” says David Farquhar, CEO of Intelligent Growth Solutions.
Provocative questions are being posed at the Agri-TechE Controlled Environment Agriculture conference, which is exploring emerging technologies for vertical farming and for growing crops in a secure indoor spaces.
Industry leaders will profile the latest technologies, purpose-built facilities and innovations at ‘Controlled Environment Agriculture – The Industry Is Growing Up’ event on 18 March 2020- take a sneak peek at what the exhibition holds…
Could an urban sky farm sustainably feed half of Battersea? Tom Cox thinks it could, he will present his vertical farm-of-the-future at our CEA event
CEA is attracting significant global investment, creating huge opportunities for innovation – as well as divergence in business model.
Baby leaf has increased in value as a salad crop over recent years, from £260m of bagged salad sold in 2005 to a staggering £1.1bn in 2017. NIAB hosted a Agri-Tech Week event to discuss what would be needed to grow the crop 24/7 with minimal waste in order to maximise the potential of this crop.