LettUs Grow is an indoor farming technology provider founded in 2015 in Bristol, UK. The company is speeding up the building of two vertical farm modules in the city of Bristol to help feed vulnerable communities during the Covid-19 outbreak. The company is also forming partnership with the food redistribution charity FareShare South West to ensure the produce gets to those who need it most.

LettUs Grow expects the first of the new aeroponic farm modules to be ready to start producing fresh produce from mid-April, with the first harvests ready to be delivered in ten days after the farm’s commissioning. A second, larger module will be following in June.

(Image: LettUs Grow)

The vertical farming company has raised a seed funding of GBP 2.35 million (US$ 2.93 million) in January 2020 and aimed to set up their second aeroponic research center and scale up the business with the investment.

LettUs Grow’s farm operations are automated with only one person on sited needed, allowing social distancing of key workers and minimizing strain on an already stretched farm labor force.

The coronavirus outbreak has shone a spotlight on the fragility of the UK’s just-in-time food supply chain. The UK only produces 50% of the food it consumes, which leaves it vulnerable to shocks in the global supply chain. The closures and lockdowns enforced due to the pandemic, have created logistical bottlenecks that ripple across these lengthy chains.

The company thus plans to utilize its technology to produce fresh food near its point of consumption, with only electricity and water supply required.