Urban farming specialists Vertical Future and Crate to Plate are gearing up to rollout a fleet of indoor container farms in London, each capable of producing fresh salad and vegetables for swift delivery across the capital while producing minimal carbon emissions, reports Business Green.
Crate to Plate, an urban farming start-up, plans to use the container farms designed by Vertical Future - a technology company focused on controlled-environment-agriculture (CEA) - across several new sites in London's Bermondsey and Stratford, the report said.
By using the container farms, Crate to Plate told Business Green it would be able to produce up to five tonnes of fresh produce - including lettuce, kale and rocket - per year, and then deliver it to customers within 24 hours with a zero-carbon footprint, all without any use of pesticides or toxic chemicals.
Vertical Future's farms, built within 40ft shipping containers, allow for highly-controlled indoor growing conditions, harnessing LED lighting, full climate control, and dual irrigation in order to create the optimal conditions for cultivating leafy salad and vegetables, the report said.
By shifting towards using Vertical Future's 'Container Labs', Crate to Plate's founder Sebastien Sainsbury said the firm would be able to scale up its systems across the UK, while offering more efficient growing capabilities to improve both output and product quality.
'It's been incredibly encouraging and exciting to align with other dynamic, innovative and enterprising British business, which will help us to scale up our vision and execute our exciting opportunities both nationally and internationally,' Sainsbury told Business Green.
