Zero Carbon Food: Sustainable Urban Food

Consumers are demanding more transparency from food providers. In recognition of this, the solution we propose in this application aims to tackle some of today’s key consumer challenges; quality, cost and sustainability.

Our solution is to build and operate a closed loop proximity farm: A peri-urban, fully-automated, industrial scale and carbon neutral Controlled Environment Farm (CEF) which supplies fresh produce with high nutritional content to a growing urban population at an affordable price.

We offer three key innovations within our solution:

1. The development of an LED light “recipe” for producing crops with enhanced nutritional output.

2. The design of an automated packing system that works with home compostable containers.

3. The integration of our proposed CEF project with on-site renewable energy infrastructure and water source for carbon-neutral and water neutral production.

Our solution confronts distinct problems concerning food nutrition, climate and waste.

Food nutrition: Food systems are failing to deliver the required amounts of nutrients to consumers globally. Nearly 800 million people are chronically undernourished, over 2 billion globally and 3 million in the UK suffer from micronutrient deficiencies (BBSRC Strategy, 2015). Improved nutritional value is the largest potential cost-savings for the NHS, representing minimum £30m per year. 

Climate: Global agriculture is already at breaking point, using up 40% of usable farmland, 70% of freshwater consumption and accounting for 30% of GHG emissions. An overhaul of the way we grow food is needed. In Europe alone, global commitments to maintain warming to below 2*c requires reducing emissions to 20% below 1990 levels.

Waste: Global food waste exceeds 1.3 billion tons annually - accounting for 8% of global GHG emissions. Moreover, only 14% of plastic waste produced globally (annually) is recycled. The part played by food producers should be recognised and those working in the agriculture sector must ensure that food is packaged in an environmentally responsible manner.

Our solution is to build and operate a system capable of growing carbon neutral, affordable and nutritious fresh produce. To realise this we will build on existing CEF technology. From our 6+ years running our prototype farm, Growing Underground, we understand the logistics of building & operating CEFs. Yet for what we want to achieve, we need to develop an improved growing system. 

From preliminary data, ultraviolet-A (UV-A) light is known to induce significant increases in total phenolic and total flavonoid content. Based on this, we will subsequently focus on developing LED light “recipes” for maximising the nutritional output of our crops. We will conduct these trials at Growing Underground where our new R&D facility offers a 20 sq m space with 80 trays, allowing up to 10 different adjustable LED solutions to be trialled. 

Once this is complete, we will then address two complementary elements that can be integrated with our improved growing system:

- The design of an automated packing system that can work with home compostable containers

- The integration of our proposed farm with on-site renewable energy infrastructure and water source for carbon-neutral and water neutral production

Our solution is designed to serve urban populations with access to local fresh produce. The number of those living in urban and built up areas has surpassed those living in rural areas. This divide is predicted to grow in the coming years. In the UK 83.4% of people live in built up urban areas. This growing urban UK population is our primary direct target. 

Indirectly we are looking to inspire a more widespread impact on people’s lives. Our model has the potential to reshape supply chains and help regions where agriculture is threatened by climate change, land or water scarcity having numerous indirect benefits. For example, consider that 1,6 billion people are dependent on forests. By providing a means of space efficient & carbon neutral farming, we are contributing to preserving global forest cover and protecting the livelihoods of people who depend on it. 

Furthermore, with the shock of the global pandemic, our solutions’s resilience has been shown to extend beyond the context of climate change, proving itself to be adaptive to multiple shocks. Thus our service is not just beneficial to end users but an important link in the supply chain for the consistent delivery of fresh produce. 

Our solution’s role as a peri-urban/urban farming model for the widespread supply of healthy, affordable and sustainable fresh produce extends to include various features from the differing dimensions listed above. We are looking to decrease carbon emissions, land use change, nutrient runoff and water pollution in agriculture via our closed loop system. Likewise we are intent on improving supply chain practices and promote a shift towards low-impact, nutritious diets. 

Our solution is innovative on 3 accounts; Our organisation, Our system & Our proposed project:

Our Organisation:

- 6 years experience in CEF

- World’s first Underground Farm & only CEF to get food safety standards (BRC/Field to Fork / Red Tractor) to trade with major retailers (customers include M&S, Waitrose & Tesco)

-365 day operation delivering nationwide

- We offer our customers a secure supply chain & provide them with year round fresh produce that is locally grown (London), consistent in quality & yield.

- We set our own carbon offsetting commitments & strive towards commercially viable carbon neutral food production.

- We bridge research and commerce in CE-Farming to push the industry forward

Our system:

- 70% less water than traditional growing methods

- Increased yields & density in shorter time

- We capture and monitor millions of data points throughout the growing process (temperature, CO2, humidity, pH, air movement/velocity etc) enabling us to maintain the ideal conditions to optimise taste, quality & yield;

- This data is mapped against the crop microbiological data to improve crop quality

 Our project:

- Powered by renewable energy via integration with on-site solar panels

- Water neutral irrigation system via integration with on-site water source

- Choice of industry technology for optimal irrigation purification process, bench design, etc.

- Increased nutritional composition via LED light “recipe” 

- Grown & supplied via one of the UK’s major distributors (G’s Fresh)

- Fully automated (including automated packing system for home compostable containers).

From our prototype farm, Growing Underground, we have implemented 3 core technologies:

- Hydroponics: We irrigate using an ebb-and-drain hydroponic system. This system uses 70% less water than conventional irrigation systems.

- LEDs: We grow our crops under LED lights which target photosynthesis with UV-A lighting to enhance growing time and yield densities.

- Sensor/climate-control: We operate as a ‘controlled environment farm’, applying data driven approaches to ensure the optimum growing conditions. This includes monitoring and real-time adjustment of ph, temp, air velocity, humidity etc.

Building on these core technologies our proposed project for a carbon neutral proximity farm would include the following ancillary technologies:

- Energy from Waste: The site has an anaerobic digester allowing us to convert waste produce into useable energy

- Sequestered Heat: The site will be built next to a mushroom farm allowing

us to use their waste, excess CO2 and Heat for our farm

- Solar Power: Making use of existing solar panels on site

- Water source: Allows water neutrality via recycling of irrigation water.

- Automation: Building on our data driven prototype, our proximity farm will be fully automated requiring minimal interference. Including an automated packaging system cabales of working with home compostable packaging.

- LED ‘recipe’: We are improving our growing system to enhance the nutritional content of our crops.

There are several facets to substantiate the technology involved; Our own experience, wider industry growth, publications, R&D and social proof:

Experience: From our own experience, the very fact that we have built the world’ first underground controlled environment farm is a testament that this technology works.

Industry growth: There are over a 100 examples of CEFs in pockets around the world.

Publications: Several publications have detailed the science and demonstrated this practice (see Kozai et al 2018 and Raviv et al 2019).

R&D: We work with several research partners (such as Nottingham Trent University, Cambridge University & the Alan Turing Institute) to develop the next stage of our technology and explore the future potential based on current empirical capabilities. Research results are published by these partners.

Social Proof:  Social accomplishments demonstrating our capabilities include a top ten place within the FoodTech 500 list (2020), the Waitrose Sustainability Award (2018), and the ‘Future Food’ Winner of the BBC Food, Disrupt Top 100 list (2018) and Farming Awards (2017).

Our theory of change can be divided into three stages beginning with our own success in developing the next generation of CEFs and locating this success within a wider transformation of the agricultural industry.

Short term success: The first stage of success is achieving all the different elements within the proposed project and delivering a fully functioning closed loop/carbon neutral farm producing higher nutritional food for nationwide consumption.

Medium term national change: The second step would see us opening multiple sites. This would bring about innovation & industry wide debates about our system and the roles of renewable energy in commercial agriculture for technology driven sustainable production. Emissions would be curbed and new environmentally responsible standards of practice would take precedence.

Long term international change: Following a complete transition of the agricultural sector, reductions in fresh water usage & GHG emission would be quantifiable. Year round production would be able to meet growing demand and in doing so would stabilise prices by ensuring secure supply chains for retailers, buyers and consumers. International accountability in agriculture for halting global warming at 2*C would no longer be about pointing figures but ensuring countries are able to diversify their agricultural sector to improve emission standards. In this vision of a successful future, the global agriculture industry is balanced between subsistence needs, commercial demand and environmental protection.

Based on forecasts and data from our prototype farm we can estimate that our proximity farm will be able to reach 100, 000s of people within its first year of operating. The farm is designed to grow 9,525 square meters of produce, which will yield 1500g per m2 to be distributed nationwide. If this is packed into 70g punnets we will be able to distribute 21 punnets per m2. This means that each yield could generate over 200,000 packets of salads thus reaching 100,000s of people.

In Five Years we anticipate serving over a million people with affordable, healthy fresh produce from multiple farm sites. Moreover, by this point, our system might have been replicated by others potentially pushing the number of people served (indirectly) even higher.

As a sustainably minded business, we at ZCF are working to pursue the following goals:

In One Year: We will achieve carbon neutrality (for product and company based on internal KPIs), and B-Corp accreditation. From a business perspective, ZCF will achieve EBITDA profitability within a year.

In Five Years: ZCF’s environmental achievements will also encompass water neutrality and a fully closed-loop growing system at our proximity farm. We would have also achieved a 20% EBITDA within this timeframe.

Our one year goals are subject to two major hurdles:

Capital & Funds: Our project requires an input of capital to fund the necessary R&D to develop our industrial scale carbon neutral farm. 

Post-COVID Recovery: We have maintained operations throughout the pandemic in compliance with UK government regulations.Having proven our resilience during COVID-19, post-pandemic we will return to full capacity and recover our food service and wholesale network.

Our five year goals are subject to potential hurdles:

Market competition: We’re competing to be the first to realise this solution and could be beaten by other tech suppliers developing the model first. 

Socio-economic shocks: There is always the potential of a shock on the horizon. While the pandemic marks a global shock, more local development such as Brexit or other political shifts may yet cause certain waves throughout the economy and society affecting our 5 year goal.

Post-COVID Adaptation: To ensure we are resilient to future shocks, we plan to diversify our supply chain and explore other opportunities such as cosmetics which are not currently experiencing the same downturn as the fresh produce market. With a return to BAU at our GU site, we have a reliable base for testing and designing elements for our closed loop carbon neutral proximity farm.  

Resilience to Other Potential Socio-Economic Shocks: We believe that by offering consistent and reliable produce in the supply chain that our model excels compared to others when the whole system is under strain. 

Capital: We hope to overcome capital constraints by assisting in research for the wider advancement of CEF. By using funding to develop our technology we are simultaneously contributing to industry innovation with our academic partners.

 Market competition: While other stakeholders pose a threat, our proposed project will build on existing working relations with stakeholders across the industry including other growers, retailers, customers, officials etc. Making use of existing relationships will, for example, aid the development of our home compostable packaging which will require cooperation with several stakeholders ranging from the manufacturers to the retailers as well as local/national officials to ensure the suitability of the product across the board.

Richard Ballard and Steven Dring, are ZCF’s two co-founders who began working on CEFs in 2012 and built GU, our prototype farm, with the consultation of Chris Nelson, a horticultural expert. Since then the team has grown to include 25 full time team members including a Director of Business Development, Operations Manager, a Data-Analyst and a head of Food Safety & Sustainability. For our solution, we will add to our by recruiting a mechanical engineer to work alongside our existing team to ensure that the design for the infrastructure of our proximity farm project remains in-house.

We are well-positioned to deliver our solution to build and operate a carbon neutral proximity farm on several accounts:

Experience: Over the last 6 years we have gathered data, knowledge and carved out our market share. We have built a team with invaluable expertise. Our prototype farm has already empirically demonstrated that CEFs can work. Therefore our solution is not new and untested but seeks to build on this existing foundation to get the most out of the technology available making use of our expertise, diversity and experience. Our team knows exactly what work goes into building a CEF and what needs to be done to ensure it delivers every day. 

Expertise: Our board of directors and external research & commercial partners provide invaluable advice and guidance for us to continue to build momentum. For example, experts such as Neil Sanderson on our board who used to be the MD at Florrette’s,  Chris Nelsson who has 40+ years of experience building CEFs globally and Dr. Chungui Lui, the head of Nottingham Trent University’s food security research group, shows a wide range of experience and expertise who together strengthen our position and capabilities in delivering our solution.

Industry consociates: We work with a range of stakeholders and industry players to get the best outcome. We work with external companies in ancillary industries and combine the best available technologies in lighting, irrigation and climate control to ensure that we can deliver the most efficient, highest quality product.

We engage with external organisations on 3 fronts: Research partnership, commercial collaboration and social entrepreneurship engagement;

Research Partnership: We work alongside researchers at Nottingham Trent University, Cambridge University , Alan Turing Institute & Imperial College London in various capacities with the overall aim of improving our growing system. With these partners, via Innovate UK, we have received a £600,000 grant to reduce agro-chemical use in the growing process.

Commercial Collaboration: Our proposed project is being developed in collaboration with G’s fresh, one of Europe’s largest fresh produce producers. They have proved instrumental in procuring the proposed site for our proximity farm offering aspace with onsite water, energy and close links to their retail distribution hub. Partnership with G’s fresh guarantees access to their supply chain infrastructure and distribution network.

Social entrepreneurship: Our two co-founders are involved in FF2030 and are recognised as Goal-Keepers for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, promoting ZCF’s work in partnership with other sustainable entrepreneurs working towards the SDGs and looking to make a difference.

Our main source of revenue is a B2B business model, selling produce direct to the retailers who distribute nationwide direct to the end consumers. Based on our 6 years experience running and operating a CEF, our modeling is prudent and based on actuals. We understand how, and to what scale, produce needs to be grown within what cost structure in order to compete in low-cost but high volume retail market retailers that add up to a 60% markup. In addition we also generate revenue through consultancy and R&D work. This is a revenue stream that we plan to expand over the next three years. 

For this upcoming project however, our second CEF will be structured as a Corporate Joint Venture (JV). We, Zero Carbon Food, will be the lead with G’s Fresh as partners. 

We are applying to SOLVE as part of a drive to secure the funding to begin the first phase of our proposed project. This would involve the development of several core components for our closed loop system, including:

• R&D for higher nutritional content fresh produce

• Design of infrastructure for on-site renewable energy & water neutrality

• Design of irrigation purification process, bench design and post-harvest de-contamination

• Development of an automated packaging system cabales of working with home compostable packaging.

If awarded the prize, funding will primarily be allocated to the R&D of our growing system to optimise crop nutritional value. Based on preliminary data,  ultraviolet-A (UV-A) light is known to induce significant increases in total phenolic and total flavonoid content. Trials will subsequently focus on developing LED light “recipes” (including UV-A light) for maximising the nutritional output of our crops. This research will be carried out in partnership with Nottingham Trent University at our new R&D facility at Growing Underground; a 20 sq m space with 80 trays, which allows up to 10 different adjustable LED solutions to be trialled. 

The biggest obstacle preventing us from implementing our solution is funding. We have the backing and support in all other respects though ultimately without the funding to scale up our solution we are limited in the impact that we can have.

Our core goal is to build and operate closed loop proximity farms. These are fully-automated, industrial scale, carbon neutral controlled environment farms which supply fresh produce with high nutritional content to a growing urban population at an affordable price.

Strategy: Our strategy involves further developing our current technology and integrating several core elements of the closed loop system. These include:

• R&D for higher nutritional content fresh produce

• Design of infrastructure for on-site renewable energy & water neutrality

• Design of irrigation purification process, bench design and post-harvest de-contamination

• Development of an automated packaging system cabales of working with home compostable packaging.

If awarded the prize, funding will primarily be allocated to the R&D of optimising crop nutritional value. Based on preliminary data,  ultraviolet-A (UV-A) light is known to induce significant increases in total phenolic and total flavonoid content. Trials will subsequently focus on developing LED light “recipes” (including UV-A light) for maximising the nutritional output of our crops. This research will be carried out in partnership with Nottingham Trent University at our new R&D facility at Growing Underground; a 20 sq m space with 80 trays, which allows up to 10 different adjustable LED solutions to be trialled. 

Alongside this, funding will be allocated to the advancement of other elements, namely the designs of both an automated packaging system and on site renewable energy generation capabilities and corresponding infrastructure. This will be carried out in house by our team at ZCF once the initial trials are completed.

The key aim of the next 12 months is to ensure we have the best growing system to operate on an industrial and sustainable scale to deliver affordable and nutritious fresh produce.

The milestones involved in realising this are subject to the following timeline:

Months 1 - 2: Project set-up, recruitment and initiation.

Months 3 - 7: Nutritional composition enhancement: As mentioned above our primary focus will be on developing the next state-of-art technology to produce a highly nutritional value crops which cannot be achieved by traditional agricultural techniques.

Once this is complete we can move to integrating this with other core milestones;

Months 7 - 11: Renewable Energy & Infrastructure: Design the infrastructure to link our growing system to on site renewable energy sources and water reservoirs. 

Months 7 - 11: Automation: Develop an automated packing system that can work with home compostable containers on an industrial scale. We have already identified packing alternatives yet are aware that these would require a bespoke system to work at our farm.

Month 12: Evaluation and Final Report: Successful trials would indicate that integrating technology and sustainability is possible at a commercial scale, enabling us to deliver produce that is affordable and accessible to everyone.

The  prize award would enable the successful development of a new industry standard within Controlled Environment Farming (CEF). Our industrial scale farm would offer affordable, healthy and sustainable produce providing a blueprint for industry wide innovation. The 12 month timeline detailed above provides an opportunity to acquire empirical evidence to support our existing data, models and forecasts to ensure that we are consistently working towards delivering concrete results.

We want our carbon neutral controlled environment farming model to become the new industry standard. Our success would be reflected in an industry wide shift whereby:

- Year round production would be able to meet growing demand 

- Supply chains would become more secure

- Food prices would stabilise

- Environmentally responsible standards of practice would take precedence

- Agriculture will be able to meet 60% increases in demand by 2050 in a sustainable way