Work on this exciting new £1.3m project led by Liberty Produce as part of a consortium of eleven partners including CHAP and Stockbridge Technology Centre starts next month. The consortium won a grant worth £990,000 awarded as part of the government’s commitment to back industry and research in transforming the UK’s food production system earlier this year. It will support the creation of an integrated technology system focussed on reducing operational costs by 25%, improving crop yield by 30% and reducing necessary grower intervention through improved decision support and automation in lighting, nutrient and environmental control technologies. It is hoped that success in this project will lead to step changes towards enabling vertical farming technologies and allowing for the production of a broader range of commercially viable crops.