Jones Food Company to open ‘world’s largest’ vertical farm in Gloucestershire
148,000sq ft facility to open next year with goal to supply 1,000 tonnes of herbs, leafy greens, cut flowers, fruit and veg each year to UK supermarkets
Construction has started on a multi-million pound vertical farm in Gloucestershire, which the developer Jones Food Company claims will be the world’s largest when it opens early next year.
The facility in Lydney near Bristol is set to boast 148,000sq ft of growing space capable of supplying at least 1,000 tonnes herbs, leafy greens, cut flowers, fruit and veg each year to UK supermarkets, the vertical farming specialist said today.
It will be the firm’s second such facility, having previously developed its first vertical farm in Scunthorpe, which it claims is the largest in Europe, equivalent to the size of around 26 tennis courts. There, the firm grows herbs and leafy greens indoors using specialised hydroponic lighting powered by renewable energy, and the facility uses 95 per cent less water than traditional farms.
The Jones Food Company said the new facility in Gloucestershire, which is set to be an equivalent size to around 70 tennis courts, would further broaden its produce range and enable it to supply thousands more retailers each year.
James Lloyd-Jones, founder of Jones Food Company, said the company aimed to supply 70 per cent of the UK’s fresh produce within the next decade.
“Our food supply chain is under significant stress, with empty supermarket shelves and shortages of foods increasingly common place, vertical farming is undoubtedly a vital part of the UK’s and the world’s farming future,” he added.
The company’s vertical farming technology allows it to grow produce without any pesticides in 17 stacked layers, which reduces land use, air and road miles compared to typical food production supply chains, according to Lloyd-Jones. “But vertical farming doesn’t just make environmental sense, it makes economic sense too,” he explained. “Scale is vital in order to create a cost base that allows us to deliver delicious, healthy herbs, salad leaves, cut flowers, fruit and veg at a price the average shopper also really likes. This second facility further cements our ability to do this.”
The company harbours expansion plans, with Lloyd-Jones noting Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Argyll, and Fermanagh as potential UK locations for further vertical farms.
Jones Food Company is not the only firm looking to expand the vertical farming market in the UK. Vertical Future, which operates several facilities around the UK, has been signing deals for the use of its technology across several countries around the world, in addition to inking supply deals for its leafy greens and herbs with several UK food manufacturers.
Lloyd-Jones described vertical farming as a growing “global movement”, and that the announcement of the new farm in Gloucestershire today “makes us a really significiant player in this country”.
“Building the world’s biggest vertical farm puts the UK at the vanguard of this global movement – we’re leading the world’s vertical farming revolution,” he said.
