British farmers may be preparing for a bad harvest but their indoor farming peers have also been suffering. Jones Food Company, one of the largest vertical farms in the UK, went into administration in April, having made losses since its launch in 2018. The Ocado-backed company, with 148,000 sq ft of growing space, made 61 staff redundant and owed £22 million to 88 creditors.
It is not the only vertical farming company to face difficulties. Agricool, a French business, went into receivership in 2023, making 500 staff redundant. Also in 2023, two US-based firms, Upwards Farms and Aerofarms, filed for bankruptcy. Aerofarms has since restarted production.
However, one vertical farming firm based in Sandwich, Kent, is expanding its production of its "zesty" salad leaves. Growup Farms, which sells its "Unbeleafable" bagged salad in supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and the Co-op, is seeking further funding to expand its growing space from 9,000 sq ft to as much as 50,000 sq ft.
Mike Hedges, chief executive of Growup, said: "This fundraise will be about a dramatic increase in capacity. As soon as we bring on new capacity, we fill it. We grow in chambers. Imagine something that's about three times the height and width of a double-decker bus. We need to increase the number of chambers we've got."
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