EATE Spotlight - LettUs Grow

A scientific future for farming

Clean white walls surround you as you step past a network of pipes, tanks, and electrical equipment. Men and women, dressed head to toe in lab coats, goggles and other safety equipment, walk up and down the isles of the facility, drenched in the pinkish glow provided by the room’s intricate system of LED lighting as they carry out tests and evaluations. Continuing onwards, a closer look reveals another colour in and amongst the brightness of the lights and the bustle of experts at work: Green.

There are many ideas a scene such as this may evoke. Perhaps it means to describe the latest sci-fi extravaganza, the green glow of an alien lifeform emanating from within a mysterious supernatural warehouse, or even the beginnings of an exposé on the inner workings of a secret government laboratory. It is unlikely, though, that this clean, uncontaminated, and extremely soilless depiction would at any point cause someone to conjure up the image of a farm.

At LettUs Grow, the mission is to change that.

Established in 2015 and a proud new member of the EATE family, LettUs Grow is a Bristol-based indoor farming company that aims to “reduce the… environmental impact of fresh produce by allowing anyone, anywhere to grow fresh produce at its point of consumption,” according to their head of communications, India Langley. Their aeroponic technology is a pioneering new method of growing plants which facilitates vertical farming, a system of indoor farming in which crops are grown on various levels, typically using racks or shelves, in order to maximize space. Though this type of farming has become increasingly popular in recent years as a new way to effectively produce crops in a sustainable manner, traditional methods using hydroponics have been unable to reach high levels of profitability. LettUs Grow’s use of aeroponics could be the game changer which allows sustainable vertical farming to scale across the UK, and hopefully globally. According to their website, the technology, which is set to roll out in January, “dramatically reduces the operational cost of indoor agriculture, whilst delivering an average of a 70% increase in growth rate across a range of crop species compared to hydroponics.” This allows for a dual functionality that was previously unattainable, sustainability but also profitability.

Utilising such a system, sustainable farming can provide a lucrative business opportunity while simultaneously acting as a solution to many of the problems which face plant-based agriculture today. Notably, the need for ever-increasing quantities of arable land to feed a growing world population is a huge driving force behind the push for new and innovative farming methods, as well as problems in supply chain inefficiency, plant wastage and the intrinsically linked issue of transportation and the resultant carbon emissions.

The benefits of vertical farming continue to stack up…

In an interview with EATE, Langley noted that one of the greatest emergences from the development of their aeroponic technology is that it is a solution not just to one specific problem but to a whole host of challenges that the food industry faces. Inspired by the worrying statistic that 40% of all salad in the UK is completely wasted, co-founders Ben, Jack and Charlie set out building a home kit which used their aeroponic technology to allow individuals to grow crops easily in their own home, allowing everyone to minimize their waste. In doing so, they realised that “as you scale it up, the benefits increase so much more.” Not only can local aeroponic farms minimize wasted produce, they also maximise land use and cut out the need for suitable arable land as well as international transportation. As Langley put it, “The last thing we need to be doing is expanding… We need to be finding solutions that aren’t expansive.”

On top of that, the move to an industrial scale has allowed for the team to partner up with Octopus Energy, meaning that their farms run entirely on renewable energy too!

The LettUs Grow Mist-ery

What are aeroponics and why are they so good?

Behind the complicated jargon of ‘hydroponics’ and ‘aeroponics’ is an easily understandable concept executed to perfection. As explained on the LettUs Grow website, a hydroponic system is one in which “plant roots are regularly submerged in a nutrient-rich solution.” However, using aeroponics, the plants’ roots are actually suspended in the air! The crops are attached to individual trays via either a matting or a plug-based system (depending on which variety of plant is being grown) where the leafy part of the plant rests above the matting and the roots hang below. Lifting a tray reveals a nutrient-infused mist which acts as an irrigation method while still allowing the roots to breathe and have immediate access to oxygen in the air. Furthermore, the farms have a completely contained filtration system which allows them to recirculate wasted water back into the system from their large nutrient-filled water tank and yet another example of how LettUs Grow make the most of their resources.

Additionally, let us grow farms all operate using their ‘Ostara’ automated software system, which can change the conditions in any individual tray and only requires a single person to operate it. This enables an extraordinary level of precision without the need for constant surveillance from a large team.

The cream of the crop

Great greens for restaurateurs

When it comes to the culinary world, a huge opportunity that LettUs Grow present is the ability to have an individual vertical tray stack or even a large “business-in-a-box” unit (if you’ve got the space!) on site as part of your business. This allows chefs to work with fresh produce at all times, and experiment with their own greens, straight from the source. LettUs Grow’s first customer has already had a lot of success with experimentation on his farm, discovering when growing sweetcorn shoots that they can actually be an incredibly exciting ingredient, tasting almost like “pure sugar”! Not to mention the excitement that you can bring to diners when they see your fresh produce growing in front of them. The future of fine dining may forego the proud display of fresh fish at the table before it is prepared, in favour of a showcase of your very own harvest!

As a member of the EATE collective, LettUs grow have already extended an open invitation to any and all members who would like to visit their farm and learn more about the technology and their vision for sustainability in the future. They are excited to work with creative chefs and get their produce on the table in new dishes, recipes, and unique flavour combinations.

We at EATE won’t rest before we make that happen.

-Aaron Burns Lees

About the Author

Editor-in-chief at EATE collective, Aaron Burns Lees is a writer and creator dedicated to telling the truth in interesting and creative ways. He has written for a variety of publications in various different fields (including gaming, art and politics), and is always searching for the most interesting story, regardless of its topic. However, his biggest focus lies in politics, and in his culinary endeavours he is particularly fascinated by sustainability and animal welfare, refusing to ever concede that vegetarians and vegans can’t eat just as good food as everybody else!
He tries not to go on about it, though…

Find him on Twitter: @CreativeBurns