Vertical farming project

GROWING food in towers of artificially lit “fields” indoors could be the future of food production – and is set to be researched in Dundee.

The James Hutton Institute, in Invergowrie, is now host to the Innovation Hub for Controlled Environment Agriculture (IHCEA), a new facility that will research the barriers to “vertical farming”.

Vertical farming – where plants and food are grown in stacks of layers lit by powerful LED bulbs – is seen by experts as the future of food production.

It uses less water and allows more food to be grown in a smaller space because the “fields” go up rather than outwards – but faces challenges such as maintaining a suitable environment in which the plants can grow.

The IHCEA will be run by research unit Crop Health and Protection and farming technology firm Liberty Produce, and has been funded by Innovate UK, the UK Government agency that supports new scientific projects.