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FOOD
Going up!
Ro-Gro launches pioneering biofortified microgreens.
In an industry first, vertical farm
Ro-Gro has cultivated biofortified
pea shoots with added Vitamin
B12. In a joint collaboration
between vertical farm Ro-Gro,
plant and microbiology research
institute the John Innes Centre,
food and health bioscience facility,
the Quadram Institute, and indoor
farming tech firm LettUs Grow has
resulted in the very first pea shoots
biofortified with vitamin B12 coming
to market. The pea shoots grown in
Ro-Gro's vertical farm in Kent are
biofortified with B12, using ultrasonic
aeroponic technology developed by
LettUs Grow.
Shooting success
Bringing agricultural and nutritional
science together, this groundbreaking
development in food
production is a step forward in
developing biofortified food and
also demonstrates the success of
combining tech and farming to create
a sustainable food system in the UK.
Ro-Gro is the first company to bring
this product to market.
Jason Perrot, Managing Director
and Head grower at Ro-Gro says,
"We're excited to adopt such
advanced farming techniques in
order to be more sustainable as well
as producing highly nutritious food.
Only by working together across a
multitude of disciplines of science
and industry including agriculture,
engineering and biotechnology can
we address some of our biggest
challenges like looking after our land
and our health. The B12 biofortified
pea shoot is a wonderful example
of what can happen when we
work together. And all this - from
producing the pea seed to the
biofortified pea shoot - can be done
right here on British farms, yearround.
Now, that's exciting!"
New addition
Ultrasonic aeroponic technology
developed by LettUs Grow uniquely
enables seedlings to be nutritionally
'enhanced' with a vitamin not
normally found in plants. With
aeroponics, plants are grown without
soil and irrigated with a nutrientdense mist - this benefits
the plant
by increasing access to oxygen and
boosting plant health, as well as
lessening resource use.
Importantly, the environmental
benefits of aeroponics scale
effectively, so growing nutritionally
enhanced crops can be expanded
to serve a growing public demand
for healthy produce. Plants grown
using this method can stay fresher
for longer, Ro-Gro guarantee the
shelf life of 14 days. A small serving
contains an adult recommended daily
allowance (RDA) of vitamin B12.
Jack Farmer, Co-founder and
Chief Scientific Officer at LettUs
Grow explains, "It's brilliant to see
this project transition over the
past few years from initial concept,
to demonstration, and now into
commercial reality. Working in
concert with the John Innes Centre,
the Quadram Institute and our
funding partners, we believe we've
identified not only a significant
scientific advancement but also
a novel way to use aeroponics to
cost-efficiently improve the lives of
many people struggling with vitamin
B12 deficiency* across the country.
We're very excited to have such
a good partner on board to help
commercialise this innovation."
People power
A major benefit of biofortified food is
the added nutrients are more readily
absorbed by the body. A 15g portion
of Ro-Gro Pea Shoots will provide an