GrowUp Farms has received an investment exceeding £100m to transform British food production by accelerating delivery of GrowUp’s energy-efficient vertical farms.
Getting shoppers excited
Kate Hofman, who co-founded GrowUp in 2013, said, “A great salad is the original plant-based meal, but for a long time it’s been hard to get shoppers excited about what’s out there,” said “We’re passionate about getting people to rethink their salads and excited by this opportunity to deliver healthy, affordable, British-grown food to more customers, with a lighter environmental footprint and a more resilient year-round supply chain.”
GrowUp’s low-carbon farms are powered directly by renewable energy. The controlled production environment means that leaves avoid processing, preserving quality and life on the shelf and in the fridge. Salads grown on the farm are expected to save up to 3 million lorry miles per year by avoiding imports, and will create new permanent, skilled jobs in Kent and elsewhere.
The to-be-constructed farm in Kent, UK
Partnering
Partnering with Generate Capital, a U.S. Public Benefit Corporation that builds, owns, operates and finances over 2,000 sustainable infrastructure projects globally, will support a series of vertical farms that benefit from GrowUp’s unique growing expertise and innovative renewable energy model. Beyond salads, GrowUp is developing future crops and products at its R&D farm at the Agri-Epi Centre at Harper Adams University.
“Our team has worked hard to solve the challenges that kept vertically farmed salads from being cost-competitive and sustainable,” said Marcus Whately, Managing Director of GrowUp. “We partnered with Generate Capital because of their long-term focus on both sustainability and economic efficiency, and together we can now bring this model to scale. As we expand in Kent and at other sites, we look forward to becoming a long-term supply partner across multiple categories – helping supermarkets solve environmental and supply chain problems.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with the expert and innovative team at GrowUp to accelerate sustainable vertical farming infrastructure in the British market,” said Dr. Erich Becker, head of Generate Europe. “Generate is passionate about using our expertise in sustainable infrastructure to build facilities that achieve better land use, improve our resource efficiency, add supply chain resilience and mitigate climate change. Low-carbon vertical farming is a much-needed development and we are pleased to be working to accelerate it across Europe and North America.”
For more information:
GrowUp
www.growupfarms.co.uk