UK: Sheffield scientists are growing food ten times faster without soil at an urban farm in Tinsley

“It is estimated that 35 Mount Everests worth of soil a year is lost to erosion.”

By Ben Barnett
Yorkshire Post
May 19, 2019

Excerpt:

An attempt to harness the potential of hydroponics is underway on the border of Sheffield and Rotherham, where a team of scientists are using a disused building at the former Tinsley Infant School to grow a range of fresh produce, from salad to tomatoes, using specialist foams that chemically, physically and biologically resemble soil – a product developed by University of Sheffield PhD student Harry Wright.

Such has been the success of the so-called “urban farm” project to date that scientists have found that they can grow plants up to 10 times faster than in soil.

A public open day at the facility was held on Saturday, where project leader Jacob Nickles, a knowledge exchange associate from Sheffield University’s new Institute for Sustainable Food, explained how the system worked.

“This technology is the way forward,” Mr Nickles said.

“By 2050, we are facing having to feed 10bn people worldwide and we don’t have the space or resources to do so. Both hydroponics – and aquaponics to raise fish – solve a number of issues in one go.

“For example, you can build these units upwards rather than outwards.”

He said there was “absolutely” still a place for traditional farming methods but it was important globally to help soils recover.

“The whole purpose of using synthetic soil is an attempt to move away from conventional soils,” the scientist explained.

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