Hull-based agtech startup Gooddrop is looking to establish itself as a leading player in the vertical farming of cotton, starting with an initial £1 million investment and a three-year research partnership with the University of Nottingham.
“We have founded Gooddrop to provide the retail sector with an entirely manageable solution to issues of sustainability in cotton farming,” said Gooddrop CEO Simon Wardle.
“Gooddrop is a well-resourced Agtech startup in an excellent position to initiate the multi-phase approach we have adopted to launch the business.
“Our ambition is to enable the transformation of cotton production from field to indoor farming, producing a sustainable, profitable crop that can be fully utilised by agriculture, manufacturing and retail.”
Launched and backed by a partnership of Wardle and Andres Perea, Gooddrop’s £1 million launch investment will ensure its initial costs are met, including for research, manpower and capital expenditure.
“We will continue to invest in Gooddrop while encouraging private equity, including angel and venture capital, and local, regional and national funding bodies to invest in the business …” said Wardle.
“We have chosen to establish a research partnership with the University of Nottingham because it has the largest group of internationally recognised plant and crop scientists in the UK university sector.
“Their team brings together a range of academic experience and expertise in delivering crop optimisation in controlled and field environments together with world leading research facilities related to germplasm, seed, crop and vertical farming development.
“Together we want to fundamentally change for the better how cotton is grown, while seeking ways to improve the health of our planet and empowering people to do so.
“This is exactly the kind of practical, hands-on research and business focused environment we need as a launch pad for Gooddrop …
“Our R&D work to date with the team at Nottingham has already identified the cotton varieties and the profiles of cotton suitable for indoor farming, while determining the cotton propagation strategy and breeding programme necessary for us to deliver our own Gooddrop cotton, optimised for growing indoors.”
Central to the research programme with the university has been the design, build, fitout and installation of six custom-made cotton research units. Converted from two ex-artic containers, these research, test growing labs and admin units have been manufactured by Cambridge HOK at Newport, East Yorkshire, transported to, and installed at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus in Leicestershire.
Erik Murchie, Professor of Applied Plant Physiology, School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham, said: “The idea here is to develop vertical farming concepts for cotton which is normally a field crop. This includes making the cotton more sustainable and to reduce inputs into cotton production and to develop means of growing it indoors. This will allow us to control temperature and humidity and light quality.”
John Foulkes, Associate Professor in Crop Science, said: “The added value of this new unit is significant as it will allow us to manipulate the growing conditions of the cotton, manipulate the light and its wavelength in unique ways, to increase the water use efficiency, reducing the inputs and uptakes required to grow the cotton.”