Fischer Farms reports successful wheat trial

Agri-tech innovators, Fischer Farms, recently revealed its first trial of growing wheat has been highly successful, making it the first vertical farm in the UK to cultivate the crop in a biosecure, controlled environment.

Initial results have shown a seed to harvest cycle time capable of delivering five crop cycles per year. Fischer Farms can grow the equivalent of 273 acres of conventionally grown wheat, in a 10-acre vertical farm.

Significant capital investment is currently going to vertically farmed leafy greens and soft fruit. However Fischer Farms has more ambitious plans, looking to scale up as quickly as infrastructure will allow, to deliver high protein crops such as wheat, soy and rice. This will require major R&D and billions of investment to deliver, but the returns will be considerable, leading to the next agricultural revolution, safeguarding global food security.

As the vertical farming giants continue to scale at pace, with its four-acre Norfolk farm set to open soon, the successful wheat trials marked a major step toward achieving their vision of feeding the world with nutritional, high calorie foods.

With plans to scale up operations and reduce cost base, Fischer Farms plan to grow soya beans, rice and wheat in significant volumes, at price points that compare favourably to global commodity prices.

The results come after a turbulent year for wheat exports, with prices reaching a 10-year high earlier this year following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. With the two countries responsible for producing 95 million tons of wheat each year – 23% of the world’s wheat exports – the potential of vertically farmed wheat offers real promise for global food security.

“The results from our first wheat trial are extremely encouraging, with very promising yield capabilities," said Tristan Fischer, Founder & CEO. "Further development of the seed, growing environment and light technology will continue to provide significant improvement to this performance but investment will be key to this scalability. As we open the doors to our new vertical farm in Norfolk next year, we plan to extend these trials into rice and soy, bringing us another step closer to achieving our long-term vision.

“This advancement provides real promise for wider global food security. Our infrastructure can be established in almost any country in the world, regardless of climate and soil quality, giving economically disadvantaged and water-scarce regions the opportunity to transform their food supply chains and revolutionise their economies by ultimately evolving from net food importers to becoming entirely self-sufficient.”