Scottish agritech company Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) claims its first vertical farming facility has patented technologies to cut production costs. A vertical farm has opened in Scotland and has been hailed by its creators as the “world’s most advanced indoor farm”, boasting the potential to deliver significant cost savings compared to rival facilities.
The indoor farm at the James Hutton Institute in Perthshire is the first vertical farm from Scottish agritech firm Intelligent Growth Solution (IGS). Nevertheless, IGS claims it has hit upon a system of power and communications technologies that will help it produce consistent quality produce at a lower cost than similar facilities.
“The global horticulture market is crying out for new approaches to enhancing food production in terms of yield, quality and consistency,” said IGS CEO David Farquhar. “It is also searching for ways to reduce power consumption and labour costs and our technology has been designed to fundamentally address this.”
IGS does not plan to sell its crop, rather it is seeking to sell its technology solutions to other indoor farmers and retailers, it said in a statement.
But some food experts have argued it will only ever form a relatively small part of the food production system, and some critics have dismissed the technology as too expensive and unnecessary.
