![]() ![]() LED lights provide low-cost light for photosynthesis and maintain a constant temperature of around 22 ☌. The hydroponic system uses 70% less water than conventional agricultural methods. ![]() That’s enough to meet the yearly lettuce consumption of 10,000 adults.Įither side of the 2.5 m high passage, the plants grow without soil (‘hydroponically’) on wool carpet cut-offs that were destined for landfill, and watered from tanks housed on a lower level. They are led by Dr Ruchi Choudhary from the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction at the University of Cambridge and the Data-centric Engineering Programme at the Alan Turing Institute.Īn unheated tunnel without natural light seems an unlikely place for a farm and yet plants grow extremely well here – yielding a harvest roughly every 10 days all year long.īy 2022, Growing Underground hopes to be producing over 60 tonnes of produce per year from a 528m 2 area (roughly the size of one tennis court). Zero-carbon food is at the core of the Growing Underground vision – which means paying close attention to what happens to the plants below ground as well as above ground.ĭown in the tunnels, a team of engineers and data specialists has been helping the farmers to optimise crop performance and reduce energy use. “We sow, pack and grow on site, taking the harvest to New Covent Garden Market less than a mile away for distribution across the capital, reducing food miles, pollution and food waste.” “ Growing Underground is a farm that feeds the city from within the city,” explains Ballard. Stacked racks of fresh green leaves thrive under banks of LED lights – peashoots, basil, coriander, parsley, salad rocket, pink radish, mustard plants – the fragrance of the ‘microgreens’ filling a former World War Two air raid shelter under south London.Ī post-war plan to join the tunnels to the London Underground system never happened and, in 2015, the deserted subterranean space sprouted new life when co-founders Richard Ballard and Steve Dring decided it was a perfect site to grow food while reducing the carbon footprint of transport and supply. It’s shaping the future of urban farming. ![]() Thirty-three metres below London’s Clapham High Street is the world’s first underground farm. ![]()
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