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Press, 12 July 1985, Page 10

This grass-growing unit, developed in Britain, can produce a tonne of high-quality fresh fodder every day — equivalent to the yield from 10 hectares of good grassland. The system uses only 2 per cent of the water required by the same amount of field-grown fodder, a boon in arid areas where water for stock and for human consumption is in short supply. The system was developed 10 years ago and is now in use in countries as diverse as Japan and Nigeria. The crop is-produced by combining hydroponic (soil-less) cultivation with a rigidly controlled growing environment. Each unit is housed in a thermostatically-controlled, insulated shell containing tiers of racks holding the trays in which the grass is cultivated from seed. A nutrient solution is pumped to spray nozzles over

each tray and these are programmed to provide a fine mist spray for three minutes every six hours. The large unit shown here contains 696 trays. Each day 87 trays are harvested in rotation, providing a continuous eight-day growing cycle. Because of the system’s semi-automatic racking arrangement, harvesting can be done in just an hour and a half each day. The light required for growth is provided by standard fluorescent light fittings. The external dimensions of the one-tonne-a-day unit are 10.8 metres long, 2.9 metres wide, and 3.5 metres high. Smaller units in the same range supply 500 kilograms, 150 kilograms, or 75 kilograms of grass a day. r , x _ — London Pictures Service.