Blog

Apr 08, 2024

Farmers swap fields for high

“What we’re trying to do,” says Martin McDonagh-Smith, “is recreate a light spring afternoon on a Tuscan hillside.” As we stand in a growing tunnel at one of the world’s largest vertical farms, this

“What we’re trying to do,” says Martin McDonagh-Smith, “is recreate a light spring afternoon on a Tuscan hillside.”

As we stand in a growing tunnel at one of the world’s largest vertical farms, this bucolic comparison feels incongruous. Windowless and starkly lit, the cavernous room feels more like it could be part of a lunar base, with its salad crops intended to provide sustenance to the colonists.

Either side of a narrow walkway there are six layers of growing trays, stacked way above our heads. Each tray is thick with watercress, rocket and basil. Bedded in clay pebbles rather than soil, they are fed only by LED lights and nutrient-infused water. Their climate has been delicately optimised: 24C, 71 per cent humidity and a breeze