The chief executive of the high-tech vertical farm start-up that has secured a multi-million pound investment from Ocado has told how the online supermarket giant is the perfect partner to help grow his vision.
Seeds were sown when co-founder James Lloyd-Jones watched a feature on hydroponics on Tomorrow’s World.
He met experienced agronomist Dr Paul Challinor over coffee, and their second get-together was a working visit to Japan in January 2017.
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By late March last year the first 5,000 sq m ‘farm’ was secured in Scunthorpe, a world leader in scale, and with first harvests completed, the past three months have culminated in a huge investment from the online supermarket.
Mr Lloyd-Jones, who hails from York and had no food or farming industry experience, said: “We have been working on this for the past three months.
“We have got a great partner now in Ocado, It is a really exciting company, and it allows us to improve on what we do and get better at what we do, which is growing fantastic crops for sale on a large scale.”
Proposals for sites close to distribution centres have been revealed, boosting quality and minimising food miles.
“We haven’t actively got the plans at the moment, but we are looking at the short to medium term to be doing exciting things,” he said. “It has escalated quickly, so we need to sit down and talk it through.”
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Since the first baby leaf salad and herbs were grown, and sold, the team has doubled to eight. “This gives us some scope, and we have lots of plans, now we will do what’s right at the time,” he said.
As part of a £17 million investment, Ocado has also put money into an international three-way international joint venture called Infinite Acres, linking up with allied US operation 80 Acre Farms and Dutch tech firm Priva Holdings.
“We hope to work together in the future, but still sit as separate companies,” Mr Lloyd-Jones said.
Ocado told how it hoped to be able to deliver to a customer’s kitchen within an hour of produce being picked, addressing “fundamental consumer concerns on freshness and sustainability”.
Mr Lloyd-Jones said there had been significant interest from others in the business, which has been featured on the BBC’s Countryfile and last month picked up a regional business accolade for innovation.
“We had been approached by Ocado and many others. It is exactly the right fit, a fantastic company to work with,” he said.
Of the rapid journey to launch, he added: “I watched Tomorrow’s World years ago, and a feature on hydroponics farming. I found Dr Paul Challinor, started it, and pushed on. He is the real expert in plants. We then made a business case, and there were a few people we had to go to so we could get the initial funding, and we just carried on from there, growing as quickly as possible.”
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Dr Challinor was a consultant to the food production industry, having studied Horticultural Science, Chemistry, Biology and Food Crop Production at Wye College, part of University of London, before adding a PhD in Chemistry and Geology at Plymouth.
Before helping bring forward JFC, he advised the Jersey Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and worked for Hazlewood Foods, Nature’s Way and Wight Salads Group.