Carbon-friendly, waunderground. Is this ater efficient and s the way ahead? IN WHAT'S BEEN DUBBED THE 4TH AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION, NEW METHODS S ARE BEING DEVISED TO FEED AN EXPANDING WORLD POPULATION.

Byline: ANDREW FORGRAVE Rural Affairs Editor farming@dailypost.co.uk

AS the global population expands, few doubt that food insecurity will become a pressing reality for large areas of the planet.

To keep up with inexorable population growth - the UN forecasts that, by 2050, 9.8bn people will need feeding - the global food supply chain must grow by 70%.

For this to happen, without destroying more wild environments, transformative innovation will be required.

Across the world, research is underway on a variety of new food systems and techniques. Some are quirky, such a Canadian project to use bumblebees to distribute pesticides. Many centre on robotics, gene editing and artificial intelligence, a few on blockchain technologies. Some sound like science fiction, like lab-grown meat.

Others are already operating commercially. Vertical farming has been around for a while but the rapid evolution of LED lighting has enabled this emerging sector to scale up rapidly.

Another food system set to enter the fray was designed by Phytoponics, a Wales-based start-up. Using existing hydroponic concepts, the firm has designed its own set-up that uses inflatable water-filled bags made from a flexible polymer.

Founder Adam Dixon calls it a "jacuzzi in a bag", claiming it uses 80% less water than soil-based farming.

Last year, during a pilot test in a glasshouse at Aberystwyth University, the firm grew two tonnes of high-quality tomatoes. The first harvest was sold to local customers including Matteo Monacelli, chef at the Royal Pier, Aberystwyth.

"Taking a small 50 sq m greenhouse to grow two tonnes of tomatoes in six months is a great achievement" said Adam. "But I think in Wales and the UK we need to produce much more if we are to become self-sufficient in growing our own fruits and vegetables."

Phytoponics is an agricultural start-up co-founded with Luke Parkin and born out of Adam's hydroponic hobby.

As an engineering graduate from Cardiff University, Adam merged his two interests to design equipment he believes is a big step-up from existing hydroponic systems.

As well as producing higher yields, it uses 10 times less land and water than other agricultural processes.

Pesticides and herbicides are completely absent.

"The system can be used on unfertile land, freeing up other areas for sustainable development and nature," said Adam.

"We've estimated that, if used globally, it would free up land the size of the Amazonian rainforest and save water usage equivalent to that contained in the Amazon river."

Such lofty claims, allied to last year's trial data, convinced investors of the system's potential and Phytoponics has since raised PS300,000 to scale it up.

By the end of 2019 the firm hopes to have built a 1,500 sq m greenhouse in Yorkshire ahead of the 2020 growing season. Inside, Phytoponics units will be rolled out and inflated to provide safe havens for commercial plants such as salads and vines.

The sealed units, in various sizes, deliver nutrient-rich water to roots through an integrated aerator while keeping moisture in, and pests out.

Its portability and versatility offers the potential of a range of applications. Under low-cost netting in hot countries, the units could be rapidly deployed in areas of low fertility to restart troubled food chains.

In theory they could also be harnessed to LED lighting or piped sunlight in warehouses and underground locations.

>> Going underground Subterranean farming is attracting increasing interest, with a former WWII air-raid shelter in London, already being used to grow greens for local supermarkets and restaurants.

One Nottingham University academic even advocates the use of abandoned coal mines as huge underground farms.

Prof Saffa Riffat, president of the World Society of Sustainable Energy Technology, believes there is scope for such ideas in the former coal mines of Anglesey Denbighshire and Flintshire. Gwynedd's vast network of old slate mines eview. e are over ne shafts wasn't considered in his reHe said: "In the UK there 150,000 abandoned minand 25 sq km of tunnels.

e no longllapse or ities exist structures ion."

"Even discounting those er accessible through coflooding, ample opportunto use these abandoned sfor intensive food producti" Unlike conventional,ground farming, undergrotivation is unaffected by seasons, climate chanaboveound culirregular nge and peratures o be consupply of extreme weather. Air tempand humidity levels tend to stant and there is a ready water and carbon dioxide.

Using a growing bluepProf Riffat has dubbed "Deprint that eep Farm", he believes the concept can be adapted to urban, desert and even marine environments, with crops either grown in water or sprayed with nutrients.

Lit by low-cost LEDs, or sunlightcapturing fibre-optics, Prof Riffat believes up to 10 crop cycles can be achieved each year.

This would enable a small, 7 sq m shaft to produce 80 tonnes of food per year - some eight to 10 times the amount of food grown on the same land area above ground.

"In principle any existing coal mine shafts and tunnels might be considered but it is especially advantageous to use those close to cities and towns to minimise food miles," said Prof Riffat.

Using former coal mines would throw up many technical and legal headaches - many shafts have been capped or built on - but lateral thinking, allied to new technologies, will be needed to overcome future food challenges, both at home and overseas, said Adam.

"Wales has many agricultural challenges due to its difficult geography of mountains and saline soils," he said.

"I believe there is a great opportunity for Wales to implement new advanced technologies, including Phytoponics, to tackle food security sustainably and become less reliant on imports."

CAPTION(S):

| Adam Dixon, CEO of Phytoponics, puts his system to the test in Aberystwyth

| A future underground farm at a reducoalmine, as envisaged by WSSET presidProf Saffa Riffat. His Deep Farm concept (inset, below) uses solar-powered LED lito grow crops in underground silos undant dent t ights

| Following successful trials in Aberystwyth, in which a small glasshouse yielded two tonnes of tomatoes (below), Cardiff University graduate Adam Dixon (right) is building a commercial-scale glasshouse for his Phytoponics system, which is due to start production next year

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Publication:	Daily Post (Conwy, Wales)
Geographic Code:	4EUUK
Date:	Feb 7, 2019
Words:	1011
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Topics:	Food supply Analysis Methods