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Chiswick Park has been chosen as the first location for Greenhaus Farms, a new company deploying state-of-the-art vertical farms inside shipping containers, to bring sustainable farming to West London.
The smart farm at Chiswick Park will grow over two tonnes of leafy greens in a year, producing the equivalent of a two-acre farm, squashed in a box and with a harvest every week.
Greenhaus Farm is a climate-controlled environment, where all external factors that affect plant growth are controlled, such as light, temperature, CO2 levels and humidity, in order to create a consistently perfect harvest all year round, without any pesticides or chemicals.
The farm is controlled by integrated software to create and maintain the optimal climates, with remote control to ensure successful harvest and real time monitoring.
Greenhaus Farm will deliver its first harvest this week, a crop of over 500 lettuce heads, two varieties of kale and many different herbs and leafy greens such as basil, mint, coriander, parsley, rocket wasabi rocket, mustard greens and rainbow chard.
The shipping container farm will supply produce to businesses at Chiswick Park, delivering greens weekly to take home, and to the restaurants and food outlets on the park, as well as local restaurants and cafes, farmers markets and selling directly via the onsite monthly food markets.
Greenhaus Farm will be located in the already established Enjoy-Work kitchen garden at Chiswick Park, which already shares its produce with guests of the campus.
Matt Coulson, Chief Executive of Chiswick Park, said: “We have a strong ethos of biodiversity at Chiswick Park and we’ve run successful gardening clubs for 10 years, with this idea evolving into our own Enjoy-Work kitchen garden. Greenhaus Farm is a fantastic addition to the park and greatly complements our offering, bringing innovation, technology and sustainability together. We are so excited to experience the first harvest with guests from the park, food retailers and the local community, who will now benefit from fantastic fresh produce grown onsite and within the Chiswick Park grounds.”
Harrison Pritchard, Greenhaus Farms, added: “Greenhaus is bringing smart farms into the city, and we are very excited to launch our first farm in London at Chiswick Park, – to bring fresh produce to the local area and reduce food miles.
“We need to find a new way to grow fresh food. We need to use technology and innovation to increase food production whilst reducing the environmental damage of a global supply chain, and the physical footprint of traditional farming. To do this, we need to bring farms closer to people, whilst using less resources and less space. Greenhaus are doing just that, with food that tastes better and lasts longer.”
Following its launch at Chiswick Park Greenhaus Farm has plans to expand across the capital in 2023, with other UK cities set to follow.
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