Vertical farming within the frame of CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) and Agritech have come to the forefront since the global pandemic, with increased awareness of food security and food accessibility. The world’s current methods of transporting food thousands of miles are no longer sustainable, and globally we are heading deeper into poor diets ranging from malnutrition to obesity next door to one another.
Alex Pearce, CEO of GBS Ltd, one of the newest UKUAT’s organisational members, talks about vertical farming and how GBS come up with their technology.
“We know we can’t single-handedly solve the world’s problems, but we believe we can at least make a positive impact. The potential to feed people in isolated or urban areas where no agricultural land exists, to supply the finest restaurants with fresh produce, bursting with flavour and nutrients Is enormous and we believe that our modular vertical farms can make a real difference”.
Full press release:
Sustainability building specialists, GreenBuild Systems, have launched their latest exciting range – The GBS Modular Vertical Farm a unique and sustainable vertical farm system designed to offer flexible solutions in an ever-changing environment, but in a fully sustainable, yield-conscious, and realistic way.
Sustainability conscious Alex Pearce (GBS CEO) and his team over the last few years have explored the controlled environment agriculture market. They travelled the world examining multiple vertical farm systems, looking at buildings and containers(envelopes), real crop yields (as opposed to published “wish-lists” for anticipated yields), and of course, equipment manufacturers and suppliers – from LED lights, racks, & air circulation to nutrient feed systems. “It’s not simply a bridge between start-up and high end we offer – as experienced as our team are in both construction and vertical farming we can act as a bridge between both worlds – we can take a blank piece of paper and build your system from the bottom up”.
“Most of these “buildings” don’t even conform.”
With a background in construction and more recently eco construction, Alex possesses an extensive knowledge of sustainable buildings and quickly recognised that the “real costs” of making a container into a truly sustainable building envelope were so much higher than was being portrayed and certainly in today’s environment they “don’t conform – almost impossible to meet building reg “U” values, energy performance requirements, or levels of insulation without considerable expense.
“People just don’t seem to understand that good design and materials can save up to 30% of a farm’s energy cost”.
Each Farm – As small or as large as you need and multiple systems available.
The beauty is simple, the farms can be as large or as small as you require, and they can grow with you. And, as well as being flexible in modular format the farms are capable of operating different systems that GBS have developed, from wide span shelving hydroponics, to tower hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics to a hybrid aeroponic system – it all depends upon your requirements – bespoke solutions for bespoke requirements.
