Broadening the horizon of the CEA industry

"Rural farmers are the easiest people to do business with"

David Farquhar, CEO

Founded in 2013, IGS is a vertical farming (VF) technology company, providing indoor food production systems to customers on four continents. The IGS team had the privilege to get a major pavilion at the Sustainable Glasgow Landing, amidst a constellation of COP events devoid of any agri-food topics & stakeholders. A nascent Scottish pride that made it to wide national media coverage and caught a lot of attention from the public and decision-makers.

FarmTech Society attended COP26, notably to visit the VF exhibition of its members IGS and bring attention to the importance of improving agriculture, one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gas. FarmTech Society is an international non-profit industry association that unites and supports the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry, seeking to strengthen the sector through the development and implementation of resilient and future proof methods and

10 shelves laden with all sorts of plants, vegetables and fruits reaching a six-meter height

Vertical Farming & Controlled Environment Agriculture 

VF is one the practices included under the wider practice of CEA, the fundamental principle of which lies in creating and monitoring optimal growing conditions for plants, rather than wrestling with nature's uncontrollable and unpredictable climates. CEA similarly encompasses greenhouses and container farms. Growing plants indoors and controlling all relevant parameters offer multiple benefits in terms of resource-efficiency, water usage (up to -90% compared to field agriculture), land usage and reduction or even absence of pesticides. CEA farmers grow more with less while engaging with tangible solutions for climate adaptation & mitigation in agri-food systems

Deepening the roots, widening the horizon

IGS publicly announced its Ł42 million Series B fundraise amidst COP26. Originally aiming for 15 million, the one-year fundraising process attracted interests from general and family funds looking for sustainable investments, such as COFRA AG (Switzerland), Cleveland Avenue LLC (Chicago) and DC Thomson (Scotland). This growing enthusiasm is strengthening the case of CEA as a sustainable investment, while much remains to be done. The CEA industry should engage in current developments in the context of sustainable financing, particularly the globally significant EU Taxonomy*, to promote CEA solutions.

*Around €600 Bn will be dedicated from 2022 to 2027 to investments listed under EU Taxonomy. The Sustainable Financing Platform will address the criteria for CEA during the first half of 2022. FarmTech Society will work with its members to represent the interests and on-site realities of the CEA industry. 

A wider, more diverse,and well-trained employee base comes with more opportunities seized at all levels. Andrew Loyd, COO of IGS, already has some plans as to where to apply these new funds and human resources. 

1.     Climate change will directly affect communities around the world to meet their food demand, the safe supply of which CEA can help to bring with consistency and reliability. 

2.     All stakeholders of this emerging industry are in dire need of more knowledge and experience to grow more plants indoors. This will also unlock new markets with different pallets. 

3.     As a technology provider, IGS is also focused on making its growth towers more deployable, flexible and scalable for the customers' specific needs and demands.

Kate Forster, head of communications, has witnessed the sudden growth of the company and looks forward to new challenges and opportunities!

Technology yes, Frankenstein food no

Dave Scott, CTO

The success of IGS over the past two years also relies on state-of-the-art indoor-growing technologies and innovations. IGS' lighting technology providers, Osram, commercializes unique LEDs called "three-phase" lighting systems. This allows for enhanced energy-efficiency (up to 40%), the light's granularity and interesting synergies with renewable energy grids.

The LED technology is at the core of the modularity and the flexibility of IGS's VF system, explains Dave Scott. Co-founder & chief technology officer of IGS, he has been working on the entire system for over 8 years and knows all its ins and outs. He stresses that the light granularity is one of the key elements of growing plants indoors. 

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Cover Photo Caption: Andrew Lloyd (COO, IGS) & Clément Cardon (Policy Advisor, FarmTech Society)

Source: Farm Tech Society

All Photos Credit: IGS

Source: Farm Tech Society