Producing food from air: Could this be the future of farming?
Growing vegetables in thin air might sound like something from a sci-fi film, but for British agri-tech start-up LettUs Grow, this is farming fact, not fiction.
Concerned by growing demands on natural resources and staggering levels of food waste around the world, Bristol University graduates Jack Farmer, Ben Crowther and Charlie Guy set about finding a way to streamline food production using processes that would reduce waste, slash inputs and increase yields.
Combining their expertise in engineering and plant science, they decided to make use of a technique called aeroponics — a vertical farming process that grows crops without soil, and without the system used in traditional hydroponic-based vertical farms that fully submerge roots in water.
It may be a modern method of producing food, but it’s one that has traditional farming knowledge and expertise very much at its heart, says Farmer, co-founder and operations lead.
“We definitely don’t want to reinvent the wheel when it comes to growing crops,” he says. “What we’re trying to do is help growers do what they’ve always done, but in a more streamlined, productive and sustainable way.”