UNITED KINGDOM - 'Edible Wall' Gives A Taste of Big Things To Come In Runcorn
The Healthy Food Installation Is A Foretaste of Dramatic Proposals For A Vertical Farm In The Town.
30 November 2021
By Oliver Clay
An “Edible Wall” has been launched in Runcorn in a bid to improve access to healthy fruit and veg.
Liverpool-based social enterprise Farm Urban teamed up with the Heath Business and Technical Park to bring its Greens For Good campaign to Halton.
The Edible Wall is located in the Heath Café and gives customers the chance to pick their own leafy greens that have been grown using pioneering hydroponic vertical farming technology.
It is a precursor to the same idea being executed on a much larger scale to revolutionize food production and contribute to tackling the climate crisis.
Dr Paul Myers, Farm Urban co-founder, said: “People can pick and enjoy greens from the wall whenever they like, giving people access to some of the freshest, healthiest, most sustainably grown food on the planet.”
Anthony Stonebanks, Heath catering manager, said: “Our customers have been intrigued by how this Edible Wall works and what the produce tastes like.
“This week we have honey roast ham on the menu using salad from the Edible Wall as a side dish.
“Customers are invited to pick produce from the wall and have been taking this home or using it to accompany the lunches we serve to them in the café.”
Jens Thomas, co-founder of Farm Urban with Lesley Banks, SOG’s sales and marketing manager, at The Heath's North West Route to Green event in Runcorn.(SOG)
Vertical farming is a central feature of the proposed Heath Park eco-transformation of Heath Business and Technical Park.
The plans are classed as a Liverpool City Region (LCR) Beacon Project, which the park owners SOG’s vision to turn the former ICI officers into a 21st carbon net-zero version of Port Sunlight on the Wirral.
Part of SOG’s research included what is said was a world-first pilot study into vertical farming by Farm Urban and The University of Liverpool, which demonstrated that vertical farms powered by hydrogen can be a game-changer in the battle to halt climate change.
Dr. Myers said: “The new model of vertical farming we have trialed at The Heath indicates net zero food production is possible.
“This fully integrated model of vertical farming can become a sequestrator of CO2 (carbon dioxide).
How Heath Park might look once transformed into a carbon zero neighborhood.
“In simple terms, a 5,000 square-meters vertical farm utilizing this new technology and run for just ten years is the equivalent of planting 2.1m trees.
“Just 10 farms converted across the UK in this way would be equivalent to planting 21m mature trees.”
He added: “The Heath will be working with Farm Urban over the next 12 months with the aim of creating a healthier and happier working environment.
“The Edible Wall is a small hydroponic vertical farm.
“Hydroponics is a way of growing plants in water instead of soil, which means we can grow food in any environment.
“Food grows upwards in space-saving vertical towers.”