Vertical farming: Producing fruit and veg all year round

Plenty grows leafy greens and will soon be growing strawberries in tall columns, under LED lights in a fraction of the space required for a traditional farm.

It has recently constructed a 8800 square metre warehouse in Compton, California, with 2.9 metre-high ceilings, a secure truck court, and access to truck routes.

Kukutai tells Kathryn Ryan their Compton farm is the world's largest vertical farm.

"We're growing … year-round. The technology behind this has been developed by our company over the last seven years.

"We've invested close to US$1billion at this point in developing the technology and facilities that we have. They're highly automated, they're very clean from a standpoint we've never detected E coli, let alone had any food outbreaks."

He says California is only one really bad fire season away from having major disruption of its fruit and produce, and indoor growing is part of securing that supply.

"We have real challenges here to being able to grow year-round and of course climate impact is one of the biggest factors but also the drought conditions we have.

"Having the ability to grow indoors year-round with a fraction of the water use is game-changing for being able to produce fresh leafy greens and vegetables all-year round.

"The world is, I think, in this very worrying situation where we've actually got the biggest threat to food supply chain resilience that we've seen in a very long time, for a host of reasons, not just the climate."

Their method has proven its sustainability with yield improving by close to 700 percent in the last two years, compared to an average of 1 to 2 percent of year-on-year yield improvements often seen out in the field, Kukutai says.

Continue reading.

Photo: supplied/ Plenty.ag

Source: HortiBiz