Something extraordinary is happening beneath the North Yorkshire countryside. In July 2026, researchers began growing lettuce and pak choi 1.1 kilometres underground in a working mine near Whitby. Led by the University of Sheffield and Farm Urban, the 12-month project is believed to bethe deepest vertical farming experiment in the world. Its ambition is serious: to establish whether the stable conditions and existing infrastructure found underground could make controlled-environment agriculture more commercially viable – and potentially give some of Britain's disused mines an entirely new purpose.
It is one of several recent developments that suggest the UK is entering a particularly interesting period of food innovation. In March, the UK Agri-Tech Centre published results from trials of its Advanced Crop Dynamic Control system, which allows plants, in effect, to help determine their own lighting conditions. Using real-time plant data to regulate LEDs, the trial achieved 21–25% greater energy efficiency than the control system. Yield was slightly lower, demonstrating there is more work to do, but the principle is fascinating: rather than simply programming the environment around a crop, the crop can increasingly inform the environment around itself.
Then, in July, Harvest London and Crate to Plate announced a DEFRA-backed trial connecting confirmed customer orders directly to growing decisions. Their Ani platform works backwards from demand to calculate what needs planting and when, with early estimates suggesting resource savings of around 10%. Harvest London's latest facility alone produces an estimated 20–30tonnes of greens and herbs each year inside a glazed enclosure in a London shopping centre.
These are experiments, not evidence that every commercial challenge surrounding vertical farming has been solved. Energy consumption, capital costs and scale remain significant questions. But that is precisely what makes this moment interesting. The UK food industry is testing the boundaries of what food production could look like – underground, in cities and increasingly at the intersection of agriculture, data, automation and energy.
There is urgency behind the innovation too. Extreme heat, drought, flooding and water availability are changing the risk profile of food production. In June, the Government's Farming Roadmap noted the growing impact of extreme weather and climate, while describing the UK's £153 billion agri-food sector as Critical National Infrastructure. Farmers currently produce around 65% of the nation's food and manage 70% of England's land.
Government funding increasingly reflects that resilience challenge. On 1 September 2026, DEFRA and Innovate UK opened a further £13million Farming Innovation Programme competition, offering grants of £1–3million to projects capable of improving agricultural productivity, sustainability and, significantly, resilience.
For SmartParc, this frontier extends beyond farming technology. Innovation needs somewhere to happen. It requires buildings, power,water, connectivity, planning and infrastructure capable of adapting as technology evolves.
Safeguarding the future of food does not mean predicting exactly how we will produce it in 20 years. It means creating the physical conditions that allow the next generation of ideas to be tested, scaled and connected to the wider food system.
A farm 1.1 kilometres beneath Yorkshire may sound like anoutlier today. But the food infrastructure being planned and built now willhelp determine which extraordinary ideas become ordinary parts of tomorrow'ssupply chain.
And that is a future worth building for.
Bibliography
University of Sheffield (2026) World’s deepest underground farm could reshape UK food production. 8 July 2026. Available at: University of Sheffield – World’s deepest underground farm could reshape UK food production
UK Agri-Tech Centre (2026) Turning plant data into energy savings: ACDC system put to the test in vertical farm trial. 19 March 2026.Available at: UK Agri-Tech Centre – ACDC vertical farm trial
UK Urban AgriTech / Harvest London (2026) Harvest London press release. 9 July 2026. Available at: UK Urban AgriTech – Harvest London press release
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (2026) Newplan to make English farming profitable, productive, sustainable and resilient.16 June 2026. Available at: GOV.UK – New plan for English farming
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Innovate UK (2026) £13m to turn cutting-edge research into real-world farming solutions. 1 September 2026. Available at: GOV.UK – £13m for real-world farming solutions
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