How could vertical farms slash emissions and promise a greener harvest for British farmers?

While ELN was at COP26, the team had the chance to see a vertical farm in real life. We talked with Andrew Lloyd, Chief Operating Officer of the agritech manufacturer Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) about the potential benefits that could come from the technology.

He explained: “Vertical farming allows farmers to grow crops indoors 365 days a year.

“Vertical farms use 95% less water than growing outside in a field. It means farmers around the world can grow things up to 150 different types of crops that maybe do not grow in the fields outside. And to be able to grow those locally, eliminating the food miles associated with transporting produce from the other side of the world.”

Freddie Reed, Product Manager at IGS, said: “We use four wavebands of LEDs to save on power. So, we are using red, blue, blue, green, and fire red LEDs.

“So, we are supplying the plants with just the light they need for photosynthesis and growth. So, we are not wasting energy by supplying a full spectrum of lights. This makes our system very efficient.”

Watch the video to see what happened when ELN became vertical farmers for the day!