New environmentally-friendly growing media made from waste materials will be developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield's Institute for Sustainable Food for use when growing crops in controlled environments.
The project, WHyGro-in-Me (Waste-based Hybrid Growing Media), will address the challenge of reducing the environmental impacts of crop production in controlled environments while sustainably increasing crop yield. The research is being funded by a £900k grant from the UKRI's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which is being 80 percent matched by industry partners.
As farming continues to face multiple environmental challenges, Protected and Controlled Environment (PACE) production has grown in popularity due to the control it provides over resources such as water, energy, and space. Growing in this way requires a growing media - the material used to grow plants in, and demand for these materials is predicted to grow rapidly by 420 percent by 2050.
Conventional growing media used in PACE production often end up in landfill after use due to how difficult it is to recycle them. Some of these media also often contain a large amount of peat, and as the industry looks to 'de-peat' due to sustainability concerns, growers are looking for alternatives.
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