Mark has been involved in the Vertical Farming industry for around 10 years. He is the Founder & Chairman of UK Urban AgriTech (UKUAT), bringing together the leading companies, universities and individuals in the UK urban agritech industry. He is also the Founder of CEA Proteins, and does freelance consulting work across the industry.

In his work he has dealt extensively with industry standardisation & interoperability, sustainability certification, vertical farming education and vertical farming policy. His expertise is in building networks and associations that maximise value for their members, and for the industry as a whole. 

Mark’s primary interest is in taking a systemic overview of how vertical farming can be integrated with other systems, to deliver on its promises of regenerative food production and resilient societies.

Session:

Hybrid Systems - CEA doesn't have to be standalone

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is a broad range of technologies and approaches for growing food indoors without soil - there is often a mistaken perception that CEA has to be a self contained unit and process. But actually CEA can be used in a variety of ways which can both integrate with and offer benefits to wider farming and agriculture. In this session, Mark will give an overview of these potential other ways of utilising these systems, and what they could mean for wider food producing systems.