GLOBAL G.A.P. WORLD CONSULTATION TOURFOCUS CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTUREin partnership with UKUAT and The Farm Tech Society Virtual Design Discussion for the Revised GLOBALG.A.P. Standard Version 6 to be launched in 20227th December 2020, 17:00 CET, 16:00 GMT The GLOBALG.A.P. World Consultation Tour goes into its second round! Join the upcoming virtual meeting in cooperation with the Farm Tech Society and UK Urban AgriTech (UKUAT).We aim to deliver an impactful standard in line with producers’ practices. The unique challenges presented by vertical farming or produce grown in controlled environments will be addressed to ensure an appropriate user experience. Participants will meet the expert working group behind the standard revision, and will have the opportunity to join the ongoing discussion and process.…

As a consequence of the role I hold, and I suppose of the experience I now have in this industry, there are certain questions that I am asked fairly regularly. That might be in interviews or webinars, but also frequently by people looking to get into the industry. Perhaps the most common of those goes something like this: “What do you see as the big challenges for this sector, now and in the next few years”. There are variations on the theme of course, but one way or another it’s one I am asked a lot. Of course, there are good reasons why that should be. It’s a good question, in short! So here’s my brief summary of those challenges.…

Is he or she recognisable as a farmer? Checked shirt, muddy boots, body warmer, lots of talk about the weather and how to get hold of a good agronomist – metaphorically speaking… Or is the new generation of vertical farmer recognisable at all? Does he or she install the same trust of tradition dictated by years of photos ‘in the field’ flasks of tea and sheaves of wheat? Are they optimists? Realists? Or misguided? Well, from my short experience of this alternative additional way of farming, these new researchers, growers and scientists are a very diverse bunch – bringing with them some pretty novel ideas and clever science. Some may have been advocates for alternative farming for donkey’s years and…

When Covid-19 arrived early this year we saw a sudden migration of office-based workers towards working from home, a situation which has largely persisted to date. YouGov survey data suggests that at least some of this shift will be permanent,[1] a sentiment echoed by more recent accounts in the popular media.[2,3] A new concept report from UKUAT’s Working Group for Research and Expertise explores the potential for controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to occupy some of this newly available urban space. Through the lens of two hypothetical scenarios – one imagining a full office-to-CEA conversion and one based on a mixed-use office and growing space combination – the numbers are pulled together in order to estimate the productive potential, infrastructure requirements,…

Trust in any relationship is pivotal, so when asking the question ‘how can you trust in vertical farms’ it seems to have a profound impact and potential on any person in this sector. Vertical Farming (VF) has gone through doubts, suspicion and a great deal of debate. It would seem that many vertical farm start-ups appear and then sometimes quickly disappear again. So, what is happening here? Is it the case that people present amazing, exciting ideas and then struggle to deliver. Or on other hand, is it that many vertical farm start-ups have also survived the entrance challenges are growing, expanding and flourishing. The truth is that what vertical farms try to achieve is really difficult and requires a…