As veg growers in many areas of the UK struggle with torrential rains and flooding this week, Birds Eye is trialling a new ‘weather-proof’ crop technology that it claims will dramatically increase yields.

The company is testing the Verticrop hydroponic farming system at Paignton Zoo in Devon, where crops are grown in moving, vertically stacked units using artificial light and nutrient-rich water.

The trial kicked off this week and will initially focus on basil. Key Birds Eye crops such as peas and spinach as well as other herbs will be tested in the near future. Birds Eye said it would then start discussions with technology supplier Alterrus about how to scale up production.

Because the crops are grown indoors, they are not affected by the weather and can be grown without pesticides. “It’s a great opportunity for optimising all the inputs,” said Birds Eye head of European vegetable procurement James Young. “There’s no waste water, no need for any pesticides, and because it’s in a controlled environment, the water and nutrients are optimised and circulated through the system.”

The new system would enable Birds Eye to grow crops throughout the year, Young added. “All our factories are geared towards having high throughputs during short periods,” he said.

“The hypothesis is that we’d be able to have a continuous flow of material through the year, which would be a much better use of factory utilities.”

Installing the vertical growing sites next to Birds Eye’s packing facilities would also save on transport costs and could reduce its field-to-frozen time, he added.

However, Young stressed that while Birds Eye was interested in exploring Verticrop, this would not jeopardise its relationship with conventional British farmers.

Topics