Suffolk vertical farm could pioneer more-eco friendly farming
It could also help the UK's food security
Last updated 23rd Feb 2023
A Suffolk farm claims its method of growing produce vertically could encourage more eco friendly farming and strengthen the UK’s food security.
The OneFarm project, near Newmarket, grows vegetables in a series of nine metre high towers inside of a warehouse.
It's a collaboration between private investors and the council, which hopes it will help the county reach Net Zero.
Mira Merme is one of those behind the project.
She told us why making steps toward net zero is so important:
"To not have an environmental footprint that is polluting is super important.
"It protects water, it protects the natural life, and it protects people, so where we can do, we should.
"The reason for building the systems that we've built is that we can produce food 365 days a year.
"Now, if that came with an environmental cost, the question would be would it be worth doing?
"The answer is probably yes, so as long as the environmental footprint is very light.
"We think that this is an extremely good way of ensuring both food security and a supply of nutritious local food, very simply."
Environmental measures
Mira told us more about what makes OneFarm more environmentally friendly: "It takes up less land but it's everything else done that really makes the difference...
"We use very little energy because we only use the certain light waves that the plants want, rather than a full spectrum of light... so we've already reduced our energy bill.
"We also use renewable energy and recycle all our water. That's super important because I know a lot of people think there's a lot of rain in Britain, but actually our water tables are quite low and they can vary enormously and we want to save as much water as possible.
"We use about 5% of the water it takes to grow in any other way, so it really does save a lot of water.
"The other thing is it's a closed system. We have an airlock in order to get to the shelves, meaning no pests can come in, so we don't use any pesticides, which is better for humans, but also better for the world around us."