London’s first subterranean farm, ‘Growing Underground’ is about to harvest pea shoots, radishes, celery, and other produce amounting to 2.5 acres of fresh food – all from 100 feet below ground level.
Created in a remaining WWII tunnel, and carrying the name of Michel Roux Jr, a Michelin-starred chef, along with entrepreneurs Richard Ballard and Steven Dring, the crops are grown in a clean room with very little energy utilizing a sophisticated, hydroponic irrigation system, and advanced LED lighting. The grow-room looks like the set of a movie, and nothing like a traditional farm at all, but the entrepreneurs are already experiencing great success growing food under Clapham’s busy streets.
The project was partially crowd funded, with phase one costing around $1.1 million to build. The trio wants to provide microgreens and other vegetables to London sustainably, with zero environmental impact.
The underground farmers will soon move to phase two of their business plan which will involve using hyper-local supplier Farmdrop to deliver vegetables to Londoners.
‘Growing Underground’ is busy getting ready for their next harvest which will be delivered to area businesses within four hours of being ‘picked.’
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