The Vertical Farming Development Centre (VFDC) is made up of two facilities: the Vertical Farm Demonstrator and the Dynamic Vertical Farm Cabinet.
The Vertical Farm Demonstrator is a commercial-grade vertical farm consisting of two identical growth chambers, each with full climate control (temperature, relative humidity). Each growth chamber contains four rolling-bench tiers, each tier providing 28m2 cropping area (112m2 per chamber, 224m2 across both chambers). Crops are grown using a fully recirculating ebb and flood hydroponics system. There is capacity for further bespoke testing of fertigation solutions via a simplified separate fertigation system installed on one tier in each chamber. This also permits testing of high-risk materials to prevent contamination of other tiers in chamber. The cropping area is lit with commercial quality LED lighting, delivering an optimized light recipe designed for production of leafy greens.
The Vertical Farming Development Centre also provides bespoke in-crop aeration, full user control over photoperiod and irrigation regimes, clean-room infrastructure and use of a separate germination room if required. An NFT system (Nutrient Film Technique) is also temporarily installed into one of the chambers, comprised of 7 6m-long runs.
The Vertical Farm Demonstrator allows growers to compare environmental control strategies on plant performance at a commercial scale, focusing on optimising energy efficiency, sustainability and yield. This R&D facility also serves as a ground for prototyping and upscaling new technologies, ensuring commercial viability.
The Dynamic Vertical Farming Cabinet is a smaller standalone unit which provides ultra precise climate controls supported by real time data. Each row offers approximately 1.5m2 growing area and is independently controlled and automated to fine tune light, irrigation and nutrients, allowing different crops to be grown simultaneously. Features include CO2 injection for optimised growth and UVB light addition for high value compounds.
The Dynamic Vertical Farming Cabinet is deal for developing optimised crop growth recipes in particular those investigating light recipes or nutrient solution recipes due to the independent row control. It also serves as a testbed for preliminary small-scale testing of growth recipes and technologies, before scale-up and validation in the larger Demonstrator chambers.
Vertical Farm Demonstrator
- Each tier comprised of 14 separate 1m x 2m Staalplast ebb & flood benches on a rolling platform structure for easy movement
- Each tier provides 28m2 cropping area = 112m2 per chamber = 224m2 across both chambers
- GE Current Arize Lynk Gen 2 LED lighting, providing 98m of lighting per tier (69% red; 16% blue, 15% green) and an output of 250 µmol m-2 s-1
- Trane HVAC system and Air Handling Units for precise environmental control and monitoring
- Environmental control including photoperiod, temperature, relative humidity, irrigation scheduling and fan speeds via Priva BMS system and sensors (12 temperature and 4 humidity sensors per chamber)
- Fertigation solution control including automatic EC and pH dosing via Bluelab system
- Separate fertigation solutions supplying each chamber plus a simplified separate fertigation system installed on one tier per chamber
- Bespoke, in-bench intercrop aeration to maximise homogeneous air circulation, temperature and humidity
- Clean-room infrastructure, with positive pressure, UV sterilization and filtration of both incoming air and recirculating nutrient solution
- Separate germination chamber to provide high humidity (>99%) environment for optimal seed germination
- Comprehensively validated production facility, typically achieving ~4.5kg m-2 for salad leaf crops
- Typical energy usage of approx. 180kWh per chamber per day
Dynamic Vertical Farming Cabinet
- Comprised of one mini-HRVST grow moule and irrigation station, designed and manufactured by HRVST Ltd, based in Canada
- 4 individually controlled rows of equal height, approximately 50cm
- Each row is 2.4m x 0.6m providing 1.4m2 cropping area = 5.8m2 across all rows
- Easily replaceable CO2 tank for CO2 control
- Individually controlled LED lights composed of Deep-Red, Infra-Red, Blue, White and UVB light spectrums, intensity of each wavelength adjustable row-by-row
- 4 x 45L fertigation solution mixing tanks, to supply independent recipes to each row or to provide easy recipe adjustment with each new stage of plant growth
- Precise nutrient dosing with up to 4 different concentrates for bespoke fertigation recipe design
- Automated peroxide injection and particle filters to maintain a clean fertigation supply and minimise algal build-up
- Control via HRVST Linux-based software, accessible from portable devices
- Access to a database of plant growth recipes tested and validated by HRVST
- Small chiller unit, dehumidifier and fan heater to maintain precise temperature and relative humidity setpoints
- Typical energy usage of approx. 60kWh per day
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.
