10135698Bio-based Light-Altering Horticultural Coatings for Boosting Crop YieldsClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UKThe challenges of energy costs, climate change and food security are at the top of the UK's domestic agenda. This project aims to present the UK's fruit and vegetable industry with a solution capable of addressing all of these issues. Lambda Agri (trading name of Lambda Energy Ltd) are developing a cheap, non-toxic and sustainable greenhouse coating with the potential to reduce artificial light energy consumption by around 21%, while also increasing crop yields. The application of active film is simple, consistent with existing greenhouse treatment practices and will, in due course, be compatible with a range of greenhouse materials. This technology can benefit all existing greenhouse structures, including those without lighting infrastructure. It requires no additional electricity and works by modifying the ratio of the short- and long-wavelength light that plants receive from daylight by converting ultraviolet light into red light. This photosynthetically active light is what enables the film to increase crop yields. Currently, farmers in the UK and around the world are using artificial lighting solutions (LED and sodium), in greenhouses to supplement this photosynthetically active light, and to stimulate produce growth. Given the steep increases in electricity costs and increase in unpredictable weather, resulting from climate change, these lighting solutions are simultaneously becoming unsustainable yet necessary. Growers are, therefore, seeking environmentally benign solutions which can reduce operating costs, without compromising crop yield or quality. We believe that our greenhouse coating can help them reduce those costs, and decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. The potential to increase crop yields with Lambda's technology extends beyond addressing global food security. While the UK produces around 60% of our food and over 50% of our vegetables, we grow only 16% of the fruit we eat. British growers are innovative and are keen to compete with imported produce from sources which have the advantages of a warmer climate. With greater productivity from within UK greenhouses, the average greenhouse size can reduce along with the volume of imported fruits and vegetables. This will not only lessen pollution from transportation, but will protect wild lands from being farmed, preventing the environmental impact of farming from escalating. A project of this ambition requires Lambda Energy to be supported by first class industrial partners: The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), who will conduct plant growth trials, and Charles River Laboratories, who will perform toxicological testing of our materials.