SRUC has stepped up its commitment to global and local food production and security by becoming the first higher education institution in Scotland to open a commercial-sized vertical farm.

Jim Fairlie MSP, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, officially opened the £1.8 million SRUC Vertical Farming Innovation Centre – which has received £200,000 from the Scottish Government – at the Edinburgh Campus of Scotland's Rural College.

SRUC, which gained taught degree-awarding powers in October, will use the six-metre facility to carry out research, as well as educating the food and horticulture scientists, growers and industry experts of tomorrow.

Students will learn how to grow crops more quickly, or with higher nutritional value, as well as how to grow food using less water, with 250 times more water required to grow a lettuce in an open field than in a vertical farm.

The SRUC Vertical Farming Innovation Centre, which will be available to students and researchers, particularly those students studying Advanced Horticultural Production, will support the acquisition of new skills and knowledge of growing a range of plants under controlled growing conditions, including water, nutrients and light, in order to enhance food production in the presence of climate change.

Featuring technology designed by Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), the facility is coming into use at a time when the world's population is set to increase by two billion by the year 2050, to ten billion while agricultural land is lost to urbanisation. In this global context providing education and new knowledge in how to use vertically layered space under precisely controlled environmental conditions is an important part of our future sustainability.

Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie said: "I am delighted to attend the SRUC Vertical Farming Innovation Centre opening event, and proud of the Scottish Government support for it. Making farming as efficient as possible is vital to the sustainability of the sector. The development of vertical, low carbon farms will be a boost both to researchers and our ability to produce more fruit and vegetables in Scotland.

"The research that will come from this and the access students will have to cutting-edge horticultural technologies will be invaluable to them and our farming sector."

Professor Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive of SRUC, said: "The SRUC Vertical Farming Innovation Centre enhances SRUC's ability to address the major challenges facing the world, both now and in the future.

"It provides us with an innovative learning and research platform to advance our understanding and practice of growing crops under controlled environmental conditions and the design of climate resilient crops.

"Our researchers will utilise this advanced technology to progress solutions to issues such as more nutritious and energy efficient crops, matching demand to supply, supporting locally produced fresh produce and year-round production."

The vertical farm is one of SRUC's collaborative innovation hubs, designed to drive place-based innovation, economic growth and creating new jobs and opportunities.

To find out more, contact Hadi Aliki: hadi.aliki@sruc.ac.uk