The Advanced Glasshouse Facility enables agri-tech businesses, growers and innovators test, validate and refine controlled-environment and crop protection technologies under commercially representative conditions.
Based at Stockbridge Technology Centre (STC), the facility provides flexible, customisable glasshouse environments designed to support the development and demonstration of plant protection products, integrated pest and disease management strategies and sustainable food production systems. Reliable and controlled trial conditions make the facility particularly valuable for evaluating biopesticides and next-generation crop inputs.
The facility enables innovators to generate independent performance data, optimise products and accelerate market adoption through commercial-scale trials.
Capabilities include:
- Flexible glasshouse compartments for bespoke trial design
- Controlled heating, ventilation and shading systems
- Commercial-scale testing of crop protection and production technologies
- Integrated pest and disease management evaluation
- Deep water hydroponic systems for future crop protection programme testing
The facility also includes 60 individual hydroponic tanks equipped with temperature control and aeration systems, supporting advanced trials in controlled-environment agriculture and plant health technologies.
Through the Advanced Glasshouse Facility, agri-tech businesses can access specialist expertise, real-world trial environments and industry collaboration opportunities that help bring innovative horticultural solutions closer to market adoption and commercial scale
In collaboration with:
This Capability is based at the Stockbridge Technology Centre (STC). STC is an independent agricultural and horticultural centre of excellence, supported by both growers and supply sectors of the industry.
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)
Our unique CEA facilities range from pilot-to-commercial scale to foster the development, optimisation, validation, scale-up and demonstration of next generation technologies and innovative solutions that optimise the indoor production of crops (yield; costs) ,improving food quality whilst reducing our impact on resources.
We can test the effect of different strategies (environmental controls; IPM); growing systems (natural light; hydroponic; sunless); recipes (lights; nutrients); explore new crops and applications (seed breeding; high-value molecules; ingredients), as well as integrate circular economy opportunities (nutrients; energy; heat; CO2) to drive forward the novel practices and innovation that underpin this sector’s ambitions for sustainable and resilient food production.
