Carbon Free Nutrient (CFN)
Lead Participant:
FLEX FARMING LIMITED
Abstract
The food production industry is responsible for approximately 26% of global Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, of which 27% result from crop production. To achieve the industry's net-zero emission target for agriculture by 2040, transformation is required in the way farming is taking place.
However, global pandemics, natural disasters and human conflicts put food production at risk. A report published by the London School of Economics outlines how the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how deeply the UK's food security is dependent on imports (Tony Heron, May 2020), while more than 80% of farmers experienced falling profits in 2020\.
The farming sector is focused on increasing the productivity of food production processes by integrating electrification, automation and digitisation into operations and using indoor farming. This will enable farmers to have more granular visibility and control over their operations in real-time and harvest crops year-round as it is not a weather or season dependent process, helping to increase their farming business sustainability.
By 2025, it is anticipated that the agricultural technology sector will be worth more than £136 billion globally. This includes over £129 billion in the Autonomous Farm Equipment Market and over £7 billion in the Precision Farming Market.
The "Carbon Free Nutrient" project aims to promote indoor farming using Total Controlled Environment Agriculture and develop highly efficient food production operations to increase production capacity while reducing environmental impact. The technology ensures available resources are used efficiently in order to reduce operating costs and provide products with competitive prices to become a mainstream supplier to the consumer market. Such a system has the potential to be installed at sites around the world as a key part of an innovative transformation of food production, with positive consequences in feeding the world's population in a way that also addresses challenges associated with climate change.
However, global pandemics, natural disasters and human conflicts put food production at risk. A report published by the London School of Economics outlines how the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how deeply the UK's food security is dependent on imports (Tony Heron, May 2020), while more than 80% of farmers experienced falling profits in 2020\.
The farming sector is focused on increasing the productivity of food production processes by integrating electrification, automation and digitisation into operations and using indoor farming. This will enable farmers to have more granular visibility and control over their operations in real-time and harvest crops year-round as it is not a weather or season dependent process, helping to increase their farming business sustainability.
By 2025, it is anticipated that the agricultural technology sector will be worth more than £136 billion globally. This includes over £129 billion in the Autonomous Farm Equipment Market and over £7 billion in the Precision Farming Market.
The "Carbon Free Nutrient" project aims to promote indoor farming using Total Controlled Environment Agriculture and develop highly efficient food production operations to increase production capacity while reducing environmental impact. The technology ensures available resources are used efficiently in order to reduce operating costs and provide products with competitive prices to become a mainstream supplier to the consumer market. Such a system has the potential to be installed at sites around the world as a key part of an innovative transformation of food production, with positive consequences in feeding the world's population in a way that also addresses challenges associated with climate change.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| FLEX FARMING LIMITED | £356,340 | £ 249,437 |
Participant |
||
| INNOVATE UK | ||
| AGRI SGJ LIMITED | £36,391 | £ 21,835 |
| BRITS ENERGY LIMITED | £105,931 | £ 74,152 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Firoze Khambata (Project Manager) |