Modular Vertical Farming in the UK
Background
What is vertical farming and why are we so interested in it?
What is vertical farming?
Vertical farming is defined as "The practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. It’s most commonly done in a controlled environment and can use methods such as hydroponics and aeroponics to maximize crop growth in a limited area. Three of the main set ups are modular containers, greenhouses, and warehouses as shown below. Our project focuses on modular vertical farming to determine it's feasibility in the UK. Two of the advantages of modular farms are that they have a lower start-up cost than warehouses and more control over then environment the crops are in than greenhouses.
Modular Container
Greenhouse
Warehouse
Why look into vertical farming in the first place?
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People have been farming using (albeit modern updated version of) traditional methods for thousands of years, why change now?
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Growing Population
Despite the global pandemic in 2020, the world population is on a steady rise and is expected to reach 9.7 Billion by 2050[1]. With this increase we will need to look to new and innovative ways of feeding the population to supplement traditional farming.
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Food Security
In 2021 Ukraine produced 10% of the worlds grain supply[2], however this has obviously now been drastically affected by the ongoing war there. Building vertical farms in the UK reduces our reliance on other countries in an ever changing world.
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Consistent Supply
Crops grown outside are at the mercy of the elements. They have particular growing seasons and yields vary year on year depending on many factors such as weather conditions. In vertical farms crops can be grown year round in a controlled environment, providing a steady and predictable supply of produce.
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What are the challenges with vertical farming?
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Local vertical farms seem like a great solution so far, so what challenges are getting in the way of building them?
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High Energy Demand
The controlled environment required for the crops requires a lot of electricity, mainly due to lighting, heating, and cooling loads. This means that unless the energy is produced from a renewable source they can be environmentally unfriendly.
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Cost
Vertical farms require a significant initial investment for set-up, and the substantial energy demand produces a high running cost. This means that return on investment can be too slow for investors to commit to.
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Limited Crop Selection
Whilst the technology surrounding vertical farms is advancing, they are currently only able to produce certain crops such as strawberries and micro-greens. One issue is for crops that require pollinators such as bees, the artificial lighting can confuse and disorientate them as they rely on the sun for direction.
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Potential Solutions
In this project we look at potential solutions for the first two challenges. We first model a vertical farm and then look to reduce both it's carbon footprint and running cost by reducing it's energy demand and offset a portion of it using an onsite renewable source.
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Case Studies
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We based our models off the designs of two currently operational companies:
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Liberty Produce is a research company based in the UK, with a modular vertical farm lab situated in Dundee. We were lucky enough to visit the lab and talk to some of their staff about their operation.
CropBox is a commercial modular vertical farm company based in Clinton, North Carolina. We were able to get in touch with CropBox via email and they kindly also shared their modular setup with us.
