Jones Food Company falls into administration

Vertical farming specialist Jones Food Company (JFC) has gone into administration, FPJ can exclusively reveal.

The Lydney, Gloucestershire-based business closed its doors on Monday 7 April, with 61 staff made redundant and a core team of 11 remaining to support administrators in maintaining the site and assisting interested parties. 

Administrators Damian Webb and Stephanie Sutton at RSM UK have been appointed to manage the business. “The company has built a state-of-the-art vertical farming facility with a highly skilled workforce,” Webb told FPJ. “There is a great opportunity for a purchaser to build on the investment to date to take the business forward. Further information for interested parties is available upon request.”

JFC designs, builds and operates vertical farms, and has been regarded as being in the vanguard of controlled-environment agriculture. It operates a number of salad brands, including Lēaf and Home Grown, which it sells into Ocado and Asda.

The business runs what was described at launch as Europe’s largest vertical farm, JFC1 in Scunthorpe, which supplies around 30 per cent of the UK’s cut basil. Its second facility, JFC2 in Lydney, opened last year with the claim to be the world largest and most advanced vertical farm with 15,000 sq metres of growing space and capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes per year.

“We have now cracked the code for accessible, sustainable, premium food being grown all-year round, at a super-competitive price,” said founder and CEO James Lloyd-Jones at the opening of JFC2. ”Commercial success in this sector has always been the challenge, but this farm smashes it.”

A spokesman for Ocado Group, which is the major shareholder in JFC, confirmed that investors have been informed of the decision and that administrators have been appointed. It is understood that the decision was taken by the board of JFC and its leadership team.

Major player in vertical farming

The move comes as something of a shock given the business was regarded as one of the best prospects in the notoriously challenging vertical farming market.

However, despite the positivity, the enterprise continued to be an expensive proposition. In April 2021 JRC raised £25mn from new and existing shareholders to fund the construction of JFC2 and to cover expected operating losses until that facility was profitable.

Directors further identified the need for additional funding to support the company’s plans for 2023 and 2024, including £4.5mn of asset-related finance. Ocado sunk a further £3.65mn into the business in April 2023.

In its latest accounts, for the year to 30 April 2023, directors said that the company would require further cash support and had received a letter of financial support from Ocado Group indicating its willingness to continue to support the business.

They added that they intended to raise funds for further expansion using new sources of equity and debt finance over the coming year.

JFC becomes the latest in a long line of vertical farming businesses to hit the buffers. Worcestershire-based Eider VF went into administration in May 2023, joining the the likes of Agricool and Future Crops Cooperative in going under. Several other leading businesses have either downsized or cut back operations.