How vertical farming can help save our rivers

Every year, on the fourth Sunday in September, people across the world get together to raise awareness about the important role rivers play in our ecosystems, and the threats they face all over the world.

For World Rivers Day 2023, we wanted to take the time to look at the state of rivers in this country. You may well have seen news reports recently about sewage in rivers, and the alarming statistic that only 14% of England’s rivers were assessed this year by the Environment Agency as having ‘good ecological status’.

If you’ve been following the story, you might have heard about sewage overflows from water companies, and the threats by the Government to impose ‘unlimited’ fines for illegal spills.

But this is only one part of the picture.

It may not be obvious from the reporting, but water companies are not actually the worst polluters. That ignominious prize is, unfortunately, taken by farming. According to The Rivers Trust, agriculture affects two-thirds of the rivers that fail to meet chemical standards, compared to half for water companies.

Put simply, phosphorus and nitrates from fertilisers applied to fields, or badly stored, by farmers can run off into waterways, causing algae to grow out of control (killing fish and other animals) and polluting groundwater.

It’s important to say that most farmers take their environmental commitments very seriously, and are conscientious stewards of their land. Impacts vary across the UK, and the type of farming matters.

That said, there are some shocking cases. One of the worst is the River Wye in Wales and the Welsh Marches. Poultry farming in the river’s catchment area - with reportedly more than 20 million chickens in farms along its length - has caused the river to become choked with algae and led some campaigners to describe it as nearly dead.

Matters are complicated by the fact that it’s quite hard, in many cases, to say definitively that farming caused the river pollution (unlike for water companies, where you can quite literally see the sewage being pumped out at popular bathing spots). This hasn’t been helped by budget cuts of 50% in the last decade at the Environment Agency, which is meant to monitor and enforce water quality.

The point is not that farming is bad, quite the opposite: growing food in the UK rather than importing is a good thing. Agriculture has increased its productivity significantly over the last few decades, essential to feed growing populations, and fertilisers are a big part of that. Better fertiliser practice, and more resources for the Environment Agency would go a long way to improving matters.

You might be wondering what this has to do with Harvest London. We were founded based on an understanding of the pressure food production is putting on the environment, in many different areas. Like all farmers, we use fertiliser. Unlike field agriculture, we are able to carefully dose the water in our hydroponic system so we never use too much and, crucially, the water in our farm gets recycled. It also cannot get washed off fields when it rains and run into rivers.

Water and fertiliser use are key factors in the design of our new, 140,000 square foot, farm in South London. If you want to be the first to hear when you can buy produce from our new farm near you, sign up to our waiting list below.