Scientists from the University of Nottingham, Trent University in the UK have created two vertical “container farms” that can grow crops that are said to be more nutritious and yield better yields than field crops.
Farms use a variety of automated feeding and environmental control systems to create ideal growing conditions throughout the year. Each container farm is capable of producing from three to five tons of crops per year.
Scientists from the University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences are planning to use containers for teaching and research, as well as demonstrate the potential of precision farming in the face of global food security challenges. According to the university, about 70% of fruits and vegetables in the UK currently come from overseas.
The farms were created as part of a project with scientists from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. The product is grown vertically on racks using various LED light sources and nutritional recipes to stimulate growth depending on the specific species, crop variety and its various stages of development.
Plants are also grown using hydroponics - growing plants without soil in a solution enriched with nutrients - and aeronics, as a result of which the roots of the plants are suspended in the air at high humidity and then misted periodically with the nutrient solution.
