Aeroponic Rolling Benches™ showcased at Stockbridge Technology Centre
Aeroponic Rolling Benches™ showcased at Stockbridge Technology Centre
Since the summer of 2022, LettUs Grow have been working with technology partners Crop Health & Protection Ltd. (CHAP) and Stockbridge Technology Centre to trial our newest innovation, Aeroponic Rolling Benches. Aeroponic Rolling Benches combine LettUs Grow’s ultrasonic aeroponic irrigation with the practicality of rolling bench systems, allowing large-scale greenhouse growers and vertical farmers to optimise their crop production and operate aeroponics on a hectare scale. This technology has previously only been available in containerised farming systems, and looks to unlock productivity barriers for large-scale growers across the Controlled Environment Agriculture industry.
Aeroponic Rolling Benches have been running alongside hydroponic versions within CHAP’s Vertical Farming Development Centre, to compare performance and confirm its viability in the large-scale growing arena. Industry feedback is a vital part of the development process, so to support this we hosted an exclusive showcase event to unveil the technology, and gather honest feedback from attendees. This offered a unique opportunity for the engineering team to take comments and observations through to the next stages of development.
Temi Odanye, Lead Project Engineer for LettUs Griw
Temi Odanye, the Lead Project Engineer, led the technology development and installation at Stockbridge Technology Centre.
“The journey to creating a new product is always a steep learning curve. These trials provided us with a rare opportunity to test the first prototype’s integration and performance within an existing vertical farming facility. We also benefited from the Aeroponic Rolling Benches being operated by the experienced growers in the CHAP and Stockbridge Technology Centre team.
We were pleased with the simplicity of the installation process and have already collaboratively identified some areas for further improvement in the design. The preliminary growth cycles across four different crops and two different growing media have now provided us with initial design assurance, proven functionality and produced some encouraging indicative growth results.”
LettUs Grow welcomed industry professionals from across the indoor farming industry. Glasshouse growers, construction experts and vertical farmers were all invited to make sure a considered approach was taken to accommodating all large-scale growing infrastructures. Temi and the team were incredibly encouraged by the feedback received and will be taking their learnings through to the second round of testing with CHAP in 2023.
“The overall reception of the prototype was positive! Our guests from across the controlled environment agriculture industry commented on the simplicity of retrofitting aeroponics into existing and new-build facilities. There was also some useful feedback from our guests in the growing and construction communities around product integration with auxiliary automation equipment, specifically bench cleaning machinery. This is something that we will go on to include in our next design iteration in 2023.
This highlights the value and importance of seeking expert input and feedback throughout the early design stages. The team and I are keen to ensure that the Aeroponic Rolling Benches are designed specifically to meet the needs of growers and horticulture engineering providers.”
Dr Harry Langford, Innovation Lead at CHAP, oversaw the validation trials within the Vertical Farming Development Centre.
“In the wake of rising commodity prices and in order to meet Net Zero targets, horticultural growers across the country are keen to explore novel solutions that can help them to achieve continuous improvement in their operational and environmental efficiencies. This project is timely in setting out to meet that challenge.”
“We have enjoyed working with UK growers to identify the target crops in which import replacement, process improvement and seasonal demand challenges could benefit most from the Aeroponic Rolling Bench technology. Our existing hydroponic rolling benches represent commercial best-practice and so it has been a pleasure to work with LettUs Grow to install their benches within our farm and conduct a series of validation trials across four microgreen crops to demonstrate comparative performance. Stakeholders have been impressed by their performance so far and we are excited to test further design iterations over the coming months.”
These trials are set to continue in 2023, with a focus on benchmarking the growth performance of aeroponic and hydroponic benches in the same facility. The benches are adaptable for a wide range of crops, however the team is focusing on a single microgreen crop, trialing as many variables as possible to explore the differences between the two growing techniques. If you would like to stay up to date as the trial progresses, make sure to sign up to LettUs Grow’s Aeroponic Rolling Bench newsletter.