Inside the lofty walls of a building beside the River Severn, small miracles happen daily. Stacked on Meccano-style shelving, 15 layers high, are trays of miniature salad leaves and herbs bathed in the disco glow of multicolored LED lights.
Seeds started on a substrate of sheep's wool and recycled plastic and fed from tanks of nutrient-rich water grow into plants ready to harvest in 10 days. Hot air is recycled as cold; water transpired by the plants is captured and returned to the tanks, with liquid CO2 from anaerobic digesters added to boost growth. Forklifts trundle silently up and down the aisles, shifting trays.
The result is bagged baby leaves grown year-round and available on supermarket shelves within days of harvesting. Currently, the UK imports more than half of its salad leaves from Spain and Morocco; an estimated 60% is thrown away. "It is a highly perishable crop," explains Lloyd Jones. "A lot goes off because it takes so long to travel. We don't wash our leaves, so they stay fresher for longer and have higher trace elements and nutrients." As we walk down the aisles, we sample as we go: sweet chard; texel, a garlicky kind of kale; bulls' blood tasting like beetroot—these perky little neonates are delicious.
In the processing hall, trays roll down a chute where the base and root layer is sliced off, allowing the leaves to tumble down to waiting packers.
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