Growing Underground

On Monday, Mrs Follows and Mr Jones accompanied 24 Year 12 Economics students on a study visit to Growing Underground, which is a carbon neutral vertical farm, situated in an old WWII bomb shelter 33 metres below Clapham High Street.

The farm, which was founded in 2012 and moved to the Clapham Common location in 2016, supplies large companies and the restaurant trade directly.

Benefits of being underground include a consistent temperature they do not need to use as much energy as above ground farms. Vertical farms are also very fresh and sustainable. The plants grow on recycled carpet, which is a replacement for soil. Water is recycled five to ten times so this type of farming uses far less water. In a vertical farm they can harvest 60 times a year – compared to only 24 in greenhouses.

After a talk at ground level about how the business works the group descended into the tunnels and were able to see all the different crops growing under pink lights.

"We tried some freshly picked microgreens, which tasted amazing. It was a fascinating visit and we may well have witnessed the future of farming!" Gillian Fellows, Teacher of Economics