Written evidence submitted by Vertical Future (INS0028)

Who are Vertical Future? 

Founded in 2016, Vertical Future is a London-based vertical farming technology and data company with global reach. The Vertical Future team design, manufacture, and build a range of proprietary hardware and software technologies, including an integrated vertical farming system – fully automated from seed through to harvest. Powered by its proprietary “DIANA” Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) system that tracks, analyses, and improves the entirety of the growing process together with underpinning crop science carried out in-house, Vertical Future is building a global network of data-enriched, smart farms.

Vertical Future has raised more than £37m to date, contributing to the research, development, and deployment of its systems, including a £22.5m Series A raise in February 2022, which was the biggest in Europe to date for a vertical farming technology company. Its partners, customers, and high-tech facilities can be found across the UK and globally including in the Middle East, Singapore and Australia. Growing in a Vertical Future facility means greater efficiency, higher quality crops, less land use, and enhanced water and fertiliser conservation compared to broadacre and glasshouse production methods[1]. Vertical Future also partners with a number of UK and International academic partners, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Essex, The University of York and the University of Adelaide’s ‘Plants for Space’ programme, as well as being a ‘Global Innovator’ as part of the World Economic Forum. 

Why is Vertical Future contributing to the inquiry?

As a British designer, manufacturer, and builder of software and hardware for the future of food production, Vertical Future takes a keen interest in promoting sustainable agriculture and broader crop production in the UK. By growing crops indoors in stacked towers using controlled conditions, vertical farming can produce more per square metre, reducing land requirements whilst significantly improving productivity. By using less land for crop production, more land can be used to support biodiversity, which will have a positive impact on insect populations and make UK food systems more sustainable[2]. The Bonn Challenge for forest landscape restoration, for example, has enormous potential to broadly improve ecological productivity and increase biodiversity across millions of hectares[3] . Equally, rewilding is seen as an important component of a strategy to reverse some of the impacts of man-made damage to the natural ]environment in the UK[4]. Vertical farming could free-up more land traditionally used for crop production to be used for conservation projects instead.

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Our view

Climate change is already presenting challenges to global food security. As extreme weather events become more common and violent - these challenges will only get worse. The UK's recent shortages of imported crops including salads and tomatoes were in large part caused by climate change. For large parts of the year, these crops are domestically grown in heated glasshouses. Due to rising energy costs in 2022-23, farmers stalled planting, and supermarket buyers turned to imports.[5]  Unseasonal weather in Spain and North Africa reduced the supply of crops available for sale to the UK market[6] - shining a light on the  vulnerability of our food systems to climate and energy shocks.

As the climate changes, so do the threats posed to production by pests and disease.

Our changing climate is introducing previously unknown species into new geographies, while pushing out well-known, successfully mitigatable genera[7]. As such, the use of pesticides continues on a large scale. Already in 2023, the UK Government was forced to approve the use of neonicotinoid seed treatment in the sugar beet sector as yellow viruses threatened the crop[8]. The decision was criticised by organisations such as the Wildlife Trust for its harmful impact on bees[9]. The changing nature of the threat posed by pests will also necessitate changing deployment of pesticides - which has the potential to disrupt fragile biospheres and impact the numbers of native UK insects further.

While pesticides can play an important role in protecting crops and supporting production, they can also have powerful and detrimental side effects. This has been highlighted by the continued population decline in pollinator insects such as bees, moths and butterflies, along with a decline in predatory insects which themselves play a role in pest control[10] [11] [12]. Although the UK Government has taken steps to ban certain pesticides proven to have detrimental environmental effects, more work is still required to protect Britain's native insect population and wider biodiversity.

Global food systems are not ready for the predicted population increase. There are a myriad of options and solutions to ‘future-proof’ our food supply chain which need to be implemented to support UK food security. One of these is vertical farming. A key upside to vertical farming is a reduced land footprint which is expected to provide a degree of resolution to insect population decline.

Growing plants in a controlled, closed environment drastically reduces the number of pest infestations found and the resulting use of chemicals. Most vertical farms do not use chemical pesticides in the growth of crops. This reduced level of pesticide use, while maintaining production, can help reduce the damage to our natural environment and assist in the conservation and recovery of native British insect populations.

Vertical farms can be part of the solution to preserving insect populations while simultaneously contributing to food security. As a more reliable source of locally grown fresh produce, they minimise the need to rely on imported goods to meet demand. The indoor farming industry is expected to grow in value to $9.7bn worldwide by 2026[13] which translates as increased area under this method of cultivation and such increased opportunity for a positive impact on the natural environment. The available infrastructure and software allow for the collection of real-time data, processed by AI-powered software, which streamlines the process of acknowledging vulnerabilities in production and food supply. With the available expertise, it is possible to improve crop yields and crop quality as well as support an ecosystem of diverse flora and fauna outside of the facility.

Investment in vertical farming will stimulate continual innovation accelerating the rollout of vertical farming and improving the efficacy of systems. Investment from the private and public sectors will be vital to fund R&D projects, expanding from leafy greens to fruits and more nutrient-dense crops such as those used for protein. The goal is always to produce higher quality crops whilst decreasing the use of pesticides and lowering energy and water usage compared to that required in traditional broadacre and greenhouse farming methods. The industry and infrastructure can make a difference to our future and the future of insect populations through transparent, continuous innovation.

Vertical farming is not intended to render traditional farming obsolete. Vertical farming complements broadacre and glasshouse farming, growing key crops in optimised conditions, supporting food security, sustainable sourcing, and importantly, helping to boost biodiversity and safeguard insect populations for future generations.

28 April 2023