An innovative grower in the county has received a major £38 million investment which will allow it to upgrade its facilities so it can produce a staggering 1.4 million bags of salad every week.

Vertical farm GrowUp - which uses stacked shelves on which to grow its crops to increase capacity and dramatically reduce water consumption - has started converting a five-acre site within the Discovery Park complex in Sandwich into the equivalent of 1,000 acres of grade-one farmland.

Now the company behind it has received a £38m cash injection from investment firm Generate Capital.

The cash will be used to expand its operations in Kent, boost its Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co brands and invest in research and development at its laboratory site in Cambridge.

The same investors were behind a previous £100m pledge in 2021 which allowed work to start on the Kent site. It produces salad crops for the likes of Tesco, Iceland and Spar.

The area is no stranger to salad being grown on an industrial scale. Nearby Thanet Earth in Birchington, spread over a 220-acre site, produces a significant chunk of the nation’s salad crops - including 400 million tomatoes, 30 million cucumbers and 24 million peppers every year.

GrowUp’s CEO, Marcus Whately - husband of Faversham and Mid-Kent MP Helen Whately - said: “This investment is a fantastic boost to GrowUp.

“With Generate Capital's support, we have proved that vertically farmed salads are sustainable, cost competitive, and commercially viable, as well as tasty, healthy and long-lasting.

"Consumers want UK-grown, sustainable, longer-lasting leaves - grown without pesticides. With this further investment, we can expand production to meet demand and continue to transform UK food production.”

Scott Jabobs, CEO of Generate Capital, added: “GrowUp is one of the UK's most exciting and innovative vertical farming operations, experiencing nearly 800% sales increase year over year. Their ability to quickly earn the trust of the UK's largest retailers shows the appeal of their product lines, the strength of their team, and their ability to meet rising consumer demand for healthy, locally grown food.”

GrowUp Farms was founded by Kate Hofman and Tom Webster in 2013 in a small unit in London where they created a controlled environment to grow salad leaves that they supplied to Borough Market and London restaurants.

Fast forward 11 years and over £100 million investment, GrowUp has taken a five-acre brownfield site and has created a vertical farm in Sandwich growing salad leaves 365 days a year.

The farm uses state-of-the-art technology and 100% renewable energy from the co-located bioenergy plant to create the ideal environment for their leaves to thrive.

Once fully operational, the Kent site will produce 1.4 million bags of salad per week.