GrowUp Farms secures £100m in funding for vertical farm
Added on 22 February 2022
GrowUp, which describes itself as a "pioneer in controlled-environment agriculture", beforehand equipped salads to wholesalers, Foodservice and others like Wholefoods and Farmdrop via its now-defunct city farming companies, The GrowUp Field and Unit 84. .
The funding will assist present Kent's low-emissions farm with 'brisker, extra sustainable leafy salads on grocery store cabinets all yr spherical', grown utilizing the 'high-efficiency renewable vitality system unique to GrowUp, the corporate stated.
The power is claimed to make use of 95% much less water than standard rising strategies, whereas the farm-grown salads may save as much as three million truck miles a yr by avoiding imports.
The positioning is predicted to begin delivering its first crop of ready-to-eat salad leaves by the tip of the yr. Crops are grown with out pesticides or chlorine washing and are powered instantly by renewable vitality.
GrowUp stated the power could be the primary in a collection of huge, low-carbon indoor farms deliberate by the corporate that may serve retail and wholesale markets within the UK.
"Our farms can persistently ship contemporary, sustainable salads and stand up to the rising environmental and financial pressures of inflation in transport, labor and commodity prices which have examined the sector. contemporary produce," stated GrowUp co-founder Kate Hofman.
The corporate stated it had spent 9 years growing its experience and growing the "state-of-the-art" expertise used within the new facility. This expertise has lowered the price of vertical farming, whereas decreasing meals waste within the fruit and vegetable provide chain and at house, he added.
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"A superb salad is the unique plant-based meal, however for a very long time it has been exhausting to get buyers thinking about what's on the market," stated Kate Hofman, co-founder of GrowUp.
"We're enthusiastic about getting individuals to rethink their salads and enthusiastic about this chance to offer wholesome, inexpensive, British-grown meals to extra clients, with a lighter environmental footprint and a extra resilient provide chain. all year long," Hofman stated.
"Our group has labored exhausting to resolve the problems that have been stopping vertically grown salads from being aggressive and sustainable," added GrowUp MD Marcus Whately.
"We partnered with Generate Capital due to their long-term give attention to sustainability and financial effectivity, and collectively we are able to now scale this mannequin."
Generate Capital is an American public profit company that builds, owns, operates and funds greater than 2,000 sustainable infrastructure initiatives all over the world. As a part of the £100m funding program, it should additionally assist a spread of vertical farms that profit from GrowUp's experience and renewable vitality mannequin.
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Photo by Philip Myrtorp on Unsplash
Source: Shiny Life
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