Shockingly Fresh, a UK-based start-up in the vertical-farming sector, has received planning permission for its first site.
Founded by Alan Baker and Garth Bryans, Shockingly Fresh in Edinburgh, Scotland, is building a “low-cost, naturally-lit vertical farm” in the village of Offenham, located on a 1.2-hectare site in the county of Worcestershire, central England, to grow salads and herbs using hydroponic towers.
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By GlobalDataIt has been given clearance from Wychavon District Council in Worcestershire to build a 11,899-square-metre greenhouse on the site in partnership with indoor farming specialist, UK-based Saturn Bioponics, and salad growers Valefresco. The farm will be completed in the summer.
Shockingly Fresh has plans to develop 40 more projects across the UK in the next five years.
Bryans, its chief operating officer, said: “We have identified a significant market – particularly around the early and late season ‘shoulder months’ – which is currently filled by imported crops from Europe. We believe a raft of sites across the country will enable British growers to compete on a level field. We have partnered with hydroponic specialists Saturn Bioponics, which supplies all of the equipment, and we are focused on raising finance, finding sites and securing planning consent.”
He added with respect to the site in Worcestershire. “The climate is good, there is a well-established horticulture sector and it is close to major markets and road networks, so it makes sense for us to begin our roll-out plans here.”
Vertical farming is also known as urban or controlled-environment farming, and is an alternative to current arable methods without the need for soil or pesticides. Other benefits include less water usage and all-year-round crop production with greater yields than conventional techniques.
But it is also costly in terms of initial start-up costs to finance equipment, and the high energy costs associated with LED lighting.
However, Shockingly Fresh believes “the increased output from their projects will easily offset the set-up costs”.
Bryans continues: “We selected Saturn’s technology because their set up requires far less up-front capital than a fully-enclosed vertical farm, yet delivers most of the benefits which are already driving the high demand for hydroponically-produced crops. This means we can quickly build a portfolio of fully-developed vertical farms to the market – and we believe this will appeal to both site owners and specialist growers.”
See just-food’s article here: Can vertical farming ever become mainstream?
