UK Plans to Build Its Largest Vertical Farm Yet

带回家粮食生产对于脱欧后英国至关重要。减少对欧洲进口的依赖的一种解决方案是找到允许在较少土地上种植更多食物的方法。为此，垂直著名的著名选择提供了一些有趣的选择。

土地使用是农业未来的关键考虑因素。为了解决气候变化和生物多样性损失的双胞胎危机，我们必须考虑如何养活不断增长的人群，同时还可以重新野生自然景观并大修当前的农业部门。

垂直农场

总部位于爱丁堡的公司令人震惊的新鲜has opened a vertical farm in Offenham, Worcestershire, and has plans to open many more such vertical farms across the UK. Working with salad producer Valefresco and indoor farming specialist Saturn Bioponics, Shockingly Fresh has developed its current three-acre site, designed to "showcase the system at scale, although it is one-tenth the size of our future sites."

苏格兰西卡尔德市一个占地32英亩的大型遗址的计划现在正在提前。这将每年生产约3000万种植物，并雇用40名农民，这可能是英国最大的垂直农场。

这些计划是人们对垂直和水培生产的兴趣日益兴趣的一部分，该垂直生产可以提供更高的收益率，而土地利用减少，农药较少和水更少。无土壤系统意味着可以利用任何类型的土地，在边际和质量较低的农业场所打开潜力。

Nick Green, business development director of Shockingly Fresh, told Treehugger, “Not only can any type of land be used as the soil is not important, [but] the system uses 95% less land than the global average to produce the same amount of crop.”

这West Calder项目网站is located between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in a former mining area most recently used for livestock grazing. As well as developing a main vertical hydroponic growing area and attendant facilities, space on the site will be landscaped with native species to enhance overall biodiversity.

格林解释说：“垂直农业涉及英国食物链面临的一些主要挑战。”“水培法使我们能够在一年中大部分时间种植沙拉作物，从而减少了对欧盟进口的依赖。这意味着我们正在发展的农场可以... [扩展]我们的早期和后期消费者通常会依靠从欧盟进口的沙拉进口。”

自然光的水培法

What sets these vertical farms apart from other similar developments is that they do not use heating or artificial LED lighting, but rather rely on natural light. Though the production is not as linear as in fully lit systems, the schemes can still grow crops such as seasonal fruits like strawberries in the colder months. This helps reduce the need to import non-seasonal produce to meet consumer demand.

Green had previously told守护者, “It is ultimately better for the environment. I can’t say it’s carbon-neutral but it isn’t as carbon-hungry as an LED vertical farm would be.”

土星的技术设置是由令人震惊的新鲜实施的，所需的前期资本要比完全封闭的垂直农场所需的前期资本要少得多。然而，他们带来了大部分好处，这已经促进了对水培农作物的高需求。TreeHugger伸出援手，以了解有关系统输入的更多信息。

“我们根据农作物类型在系统中使用多种肥料。重要的是要注意，肥料直接被根部吸收。任何不是再循环的系统。这意味着减少了浪费，没有一个人进入水道。”格林说。

虽然像绿色这样的水培系统不能将其集成到水培技术系统（结合水培种植和养鱼）中，这将减少或消除对外部肥料投入的需求，但它们确实提供了与概念兼容的土地的使用野野和自然保护。它们还减少了对更具破坏性的外部农业系统和土地利用的依赖。