Design and management of industrial-scale vertical farms: Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS)

Publication date: 14/09/2023
Extent: 14 pages

Contributions by: Gonçalo Neves, Andrew Lloyd, Niall Skinner, Douglas Elder, Dave Scott, Niels Kortstee, Emily Seward, Csaba Hornyik, Alexander Keel-Dwyer and Lawrence Ross, Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), UK

Chapter synopsis:

For growers to fully realise the benefits of a total controlled environment agriculture system, ensuring the correct design and management of industrial-scale vertical farms is critical. Systems should be modular, scalable, and flexible to de-risk the farmer's businesses and make the most of economics of scale and facility management systems to optimise energy and labour. These elements all combine to ensure the optimum environmental footprint. This chapter will introduce Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) as a business, including its products, services, system design, and functionalities. Further, there is a reference to the installation and operation of IGS Growth Towers and an exploration of future trends such as improving crop range, efficiency gains, levels of automation, and the development of systems to operate the world's largest vertical farms successfully. A case study detailing a publicly subsidised project to grow conifer tree seedlings has been included to demonstrate the system's flexibility and adaptability.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2023.0126.28