Sensors & transducers
space and the capacity to produce 150 tonnes per year of fresh produce. JFC2 will be much larger with a growing area of 15,000m2
with a
growing capacity of 1,000 tonnes per year. The key aspects of the company’s approach that underpin commercial sustainability include:
1. Scale – large facilities provide an economy of scale along with the capacity to satisfy large orders.
2. Technology – in order to create and maintain ideal growing conditions, it is necessary to implement highly effective monitoring and control systems.
3. Re-purposed facilities – rather than incur the high environmental and financial cost of a new-build, JFC has actively sought large redundant buildings. JFC2 for example, was previously a foundry.
4. Innovation – a research facility has been established to trial new crops and different growing conditions. Again, accurate monitoring and control is vital.
available at harvest time once per year. With global food demanding 24/7 supply every day of the year, there is a heavy demand for storage and transcontinental transportation, which raises the carbon footprint of crops enormously. Agriculture is extremely sensitive to the effects of climate change, with higher temperatures, drought, flooding and extreme weather all presenting greater risks for farmers. The food and beverage sector is therefore seeking to lower climate risk in its supply chains. This includes analysis of the carbon footprint of products, creating a requirement to reduce ‘food miles’ and encourage the consumption of locally sourced food. Dwindling water resources are also driving the need for the assessment of water footprints – again, looking to reduce climate risk in supply chains. At the same time, more than half of the world’s population now live in cities, and urbanisation continues to grow.
VERTICAL FARMING
Bringing agricultural production indoors resolves many of the challenges outlined above. For example, crops can be provided with ideal growing conditions, whatever the season, whilst being protected from variations in the weather. Water can be recycled, and pesticides are
Instrumentation Monthly May 2023
almost completely unnecessary. With no soil or pesticide contamination, water efficiency is further enhanced by the absence of a requirement for washing. Traditionally, greenhouses and hydroponics have offered solutions to many agricultural problems, but with urbanisation, and the high cost and low availability of land in urban areas, it is difficult to resolve the food miles challenge. Vertical farming dramatically reduces the physical footprint of food production, but given the high cost of energy, it is vitally important for the financial sustainability of vertical farming that it operates as efficiently as possible. For this reason, sensors perform a critical role, which is why Vaisala sensors have been deployed in the UK by the Jones Food Company (JFC) in their existing vertical farms, and in the enormous new facility in Lydney (JFC2) that is likely to become one of the largest vertical farms in the world.
CASE STUDY – LARGE COMMERCIAL VERTICAL FARM IN THE UK: JFC2 JFC was established in 2016 to exploit the advantages of vertical farming to provide fresh local produce all year round. The company’s first commercial vertical farm (JFC1) started production in 2018 with 5,000m2
of growing
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JFC’s Innovation Centre in Bristol has the capacity to trial ten different crops under different conditions, concurrently. “This is fundamentally important to the success of the business,” explains Justin Au. “When a customer approaches us looking for a specific crop, we are able to rapidly conduct trials to determine the optimal growing conditions for that crop, and at every stage of its development. The monitoring and control system allows us to change both the intensity and spectra of light from the LEDs, as well as the nutrients in the irrigation water, and the temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels in the growing rooms. “Once the optimal conditions have been established for a specific crop, we can be confident that we will be able to grow it at scale, and fulfil the customer’s requirements. Our objective is to drive efficiency so that we can compete with existing on-shelf products but with the substantial sustainability advantages that vertical farming delivers. “Currently, we are growing herbs such as basil, dill, parsley, coriander, mint and chives; salads such as lettuce, rocket, pak choi, spinach, chard, kale and watercress, as well as other crops such as strawberries. Inevitably, the range of crops that we can grow commercially with vertical farming will continue to expand.”
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