Space Age Counter-Top Herb Gardens Designed to Tackle Food Waste

24 May 2016 --- Bristol University student group LettUs grow have developed a NASA-inspired "Salad Bar" planter to grow vegetables in the home.

Food waste has become a big problem in Britain. Approximately 1.1 million tons of food a year, including 45% of salad – the equivalent of £68 million (US$99 million) – is thrown in the bin.

Supermarkets have tried to solve this problem: Ocado recently committed to giving away their wasted produce to The Real Junk Food Project, Tesco and Asda have begun selling ‘wonky veg’ boxes to use up some of our less attractive produce and Sainsbury’s is using gas produced by its own food waste to run stores.

However, three students from Bristol University have come up with another idea, which they aim to pitch during Virgins VOOM 2016 campaign, designing a system that will allow you to grow vegetables just meters away from your plate.

Jack Farmer a Biology student, along with engineering students Ben Crowther and Charlie Guy have designed a counter-top planter, using LED and aeroponic soilless technology, that can grow salads and herbs with an interactive interface, providing a minimal-effort alternative to supermarket bagged greens.

LettUs Grow, is inspired by equipment developed by NASA for the International Space Station, with research pioneered by Bristol University. The plants grow through wicking hydroponics a method of growing plants by filtering them through a cavity (in this case it is made of coconut husk and clay beads) to water below, eliminating the need for soil, and allowing nutrients to easily be replaced for new plants. Utilizing LED’s, lighting can be tailored to the particular needs of whatever plant it is you’re growing, optimizing conditions for photosynthesis, for faster, healthier growth. 

There is a sensor inside the planter, which will send updates to a smartphone app when the plant needs to be watered, setting reminders and even tailoring growth instructions to your seed of choice. They even anticipate there could be a level of automation – such as a system to water plants while you’re on holiday.

The team even mention that this could include a social element: "There are huge communities of growers out there, and we really want to tap into that. It’s possible to create ‘growth recipes’ that would be available to share using the app."

LettUs Grow began in Autumn 2015, and the group have moved quickly to develop a working prototype and designs. They are currently at the stage of crowdfunding their product in order to aim for a retail launch next spring.

The initial range of products available will be a “Herb Garden” planter to grow general kitchen herbs such as basil and parsley, and then a “Salad Bar”, a bigger planter that can grow around 16 plants. Although they do plan for expansion “we really want to be able to start growing chilis” Charlie laughs.

They explain that one of their main aims is to get the planters into schools, so they can educate school children about where their food comes from “if there's one thing this campaign has taught me it is that you have to be true to your principles” comments Jack.

The disconnect with people and their food is currently being addressed by British chef Jamie Oliver in his Food Revolution campaign, launched last week, which aims to change the relationship between kids and their food, developing a greater understanding of production and to get schools out into gardens, growing vegetables.

“The thing is inner-city families/schools, they don’t have the room to grow their own vegetables in their gardens, or the conditions for them to thrive” explains Ben “with one of these planters you can set it up anywhere with access to the mains. It reduces the space needed for urban farming, which is good for the environment as well as your diet.”

The team explain that they aim to create a low-impact economically friendly design to be placed in inner-city dwellings “of course we’re open to the idea of creating more bespoke designs, but for us we really just want to bridge the gap between people and their food, so we’re looking more toward the lower end of the market. We hope initial sales will give us the ability to make the product cheaper and get it out to the masses.”

LettUs Grow have had a lot of support not just from their university but the local area as a whole, in particular from the Better Bristol and Grow Bristol projects who are performing similar research into sustainable food growth within the city.  “Everyone is pretty happy to help each other out, they will share data they generate with us and we will do the same.”

So will we see a Salad Bar in every kitchen in 10 years’ time? LettUs Grow hope so.