Traditional growers embrace LettUs Grow aeroponics in the race to Net Zero
In the Kent countryside, you’ll find a patchwork of fields filled with wheat, barley, apple orchards, and grazing sheep. For over 100 years, the family farming business G H Dean & Co Ltd has been the caretaker of these fields, growing and harvesting an array of British produce across almost 2,000 acres of land. But as the climate changes and farmers across the UK are urged to diversify at lightning speed, this farming family is now looking to indoor farming technology to reduce the environmental impact and redistribute land back to nature.
Enter Ro-Gro: a container farming business led by indoor farmer Jason Perrott, operating out of G H Dean & Co Ltd headquarters. Although his own family tree has its roots in citrus farming in Zimbabwe, Jason is set on carving a new path using LettUs Grow’s advanced aeroponics to supply fresh herbs and salad to the people of Kent.
"I've been working with G H Dean & Co Ltd for just over a year & they are an inspiring farming family because of the sustainability agenda they are already working to. We are incredibly aligned in that way - Ro-Gro is only as sustainable as it is because of the collaboration. We're both working towards a more sustainable business model year after year."
- Jason Perrot, founder of Ro-Gro
The challenge for
G H Dean & Co Ltd
Established in 1920, G H Dean & Co Ltd has been proudly serving the region with a variety of fresh produce in the “fruit belt” of Britain, as well as boasting acres of arable land and grazing areas for breeding sheep. The landscape might not have changed drastically in the past 100 years, but the appetite for diversification and enhancing food security has grown from a gentle rumble to a deafening roar for the business.
British farmers are now faced with a combination of challenges, including the competition from cheaper fresh food imports, and the growing demand to create space for nature, whilst producing enough food with lower environmental impact.
Both G H Dean & Co Ltd and Ro-Gro see this collaboration as a golden opportunity to strike a balance between the natural environment and indoor farming technologies, opening doors toward carbon-neutral operations for both Ro-Gro and G H Dean & Co Ltd.
“There is a movement towards creating space for nature. But by releasing that land, we need to find other ways to diversify whilst still doing what we do best - produce more food.
We can produce food through controlled environment agriculture in a circular loop, whilst replacing food imports that have an environmental cost. Will it save the world? Probably not. But will it allow us the opportunity to have food resilience? Absolutely.”
The road to Net Zero
Currently, agriculture accounts for 11% of the UK’s carbon emissions, with the majority of emissions stemming from the methane produced by livestock, and fertilisers used in soils. The reality is that the growing population means an increased demand for food, so instead of farmers reducing their operations, they need to find a way to operate more sustainably.
To help pave the way for an achievable route to reduce emissions and improve sustainability throughout the business, G H Dean & Co Ltd has been working with William Brandreth, an Environmental Accountant from the accountancy and advisory firm, Chavereys. William has been clear from the off-set that significant changes need to be made throughout the business, and indeed the industry, if growers are going to make a dent in both emissions and carbon capture.
Whether this be fresh produce, livestock, dairy or grains, Net Zero is an incredibly challenging target in agriculture, and farmers like G H Dean & Co Ltd will have to actively restructure their operations over the next decade and beyond to reduce their impact.
“In the power sector, we can use wind turbines and solar, and reduce emissions to zero, agriculture can’t reach zero and will require a mixture of emissions reductions and sequestration. But what makes agriculture so crucial is that farmers manage the UK’s land, and we need to get the balance right between demands for food production, energy production, biodiversity and carbon capture.
Net Zero is achievable and some businesses will go beyond. But there are big decisions that have to be made, and they’ll require new skills, and new investments in infrastructure. It’s not going to happen overnight, but there is certainly potential there.”
How can container farms & traditional agriculture work together?
Aeroponic container farming can create a sustainable source of food as a standalone system, but it is the unity between the existing operations at G H Dean & Co Ltd and the novel technology used by Ro-Gro that make this particular collaborative model so effective.
These include:
- Reallocation of land: Hyperproductive container modules allow G H Dean & Co Ltd to redistribute less productive land. For example, the grazing areas currently used by sheep will be rewetted and gifted back to nature, allowing the marshland habitat to flourish.
- Green energy: Solar panels have already become a key source of green energy for G H Dean & Co Ltd, and Ro-Gro will look to harness 40% of this energy to power the containers, growing to 90% over the next year.
- Water recycling: Container farms alone use 90% less water than traditional farming methods. The water used in the Ro-Gro containers will be harvested from rainwater from the G H Dean & Co Ltd site, and then once they have been used for irrigation the nutrient-rich wastewater will be redistributed back into the fields.
Food security: Using controlled environments, the containers will be able to operate throughout the seasons allowing both Ro-Gro customers and G H Dean & Co Ltd a perpetual food production system, that will only increase in capacity over time as the business grows.
"The big advantage of container farming is that you produce everything in a controlled environment. It provides all the oxygen, water & nutrients in really efficient volumes. Container farming is one way of starting a journey moving aeroponic technology from research & development into the commercial world - & doing that container scale is the right way for me."
- Jason Perrot, founder of Ro-Gro
Jason’s journey with LettUs Grow
As with any new venture, starting small often stands you in good stead. Jason first began farming with aeroponics in 2020, with just two stacks and Ostara farm management to hone his skills, build a customer base and test the technology before plunging into container farming.
Although having a strong farming background behind him, aeroponics was a relative unknown for Jason, so testing the business case of the technology was imperative. Our team of customer support, engineers and delivery experts were also on hand for technical and grower support throughout the trial, allowing Jason the time to build confidence in the business model and aeroponics before expanding.
“I looked around at a number of different solutions - hydroponic systems are widely available, but the LettUs Grow aeroponic solution was very unique & I wanted to test them both to see if I could produce a good quality product & also to see if the technology lived up to the hype.
For a year this unit behind me was in my garage, I worked out the business and sustainability case for container farming, which led to writing a business plan looking for investors, looking for the site and finally led to where I am today”
The future for Ro-Gro and
G H Dean & Co Ltd
For G H Dean & Co Ltd, this union of traditional agricultural practices and state-of-the-art indoor farming technology marks just the start of their journey to Net Zero. The two farming institutions are keen to show that collaboration between outdoor and indoor agriculture will pave the way for the future. By working together, growers of all distinctions can achieve a sustainable business model which gives back to the environment, and creates a sustainable and resilient food system.
Jason’s plans expand well beyond his two-container set-up, and is looking forward to locating many more containers near other towns across the southeast so that more people can enjoy nutritious produce which is always local, and always fresh.
"What I'm looking forward to next is actually being able to offer more of what I have. Ro-Gro is all about supplying local year-round fresh produce & I can be confident of doing that using the technology within a container farm. So beyond the container farm, Ro-Gro's ambition is to get to 10,000 square metres & put this lovely product onto every plate in the southeast."
Jason Perrot, founder of Ro-Gro
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