They want to use disused mines to grow crops, believing the stable environment and ability to use existing infrastructure could reduce the high energy costs associated with conventional vertical farming.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a game-changing idea, but the team behind it need evidence that it will work \u2013 and the clock is ticking.<\/p>\n
Jacob Nickles leads the harvesting and recording of plant species grown in the clean labs within underground tunnels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to double food production by 2050 to support the world\u2019s population,\u201d says Jacob Nickles, a University of Sheffield research fellow<\/a> and one of the project\u2019s leaders. \u201cThat is the long and the short of it. Is it possible? Maybe if we start using mines.\u201d<\/p>\n While Nickles and his colleagues might in previous years have been talking about the food crisis looming far in the future, this year\u2019s extreme weather has shown it could be even closer.<\/p>\n In England, the dry, hot summer has led to crops dying and livestock using winter feed because there is no grass. \u201cThe crisis is less looming,\u201d says Nickles, \u201cit\u2019s here \u2026 now.\u201d<\/p>\n The underground farm operation has been set up in a science facility at Boulby mine, near Saltburn. The mine itself is a working one: the world\u2019s only commercial producer of polyhalite<\/a>, which is used as an agricultural fertiliser.<\/p>\n Researchers on the project.<\/p>\n Drive through the ICL-UK mining operation and you will come to offices of the UK government-funded science facility, which hosts mind-blowing experiments \u2013 often involving the search for dark matter.<\/p>\n This week, the Guardian accompanied Nickles two-thirds of a mile (1.1km) underground as he and colleagues harvested pak choi<\/a> and lettuce from vertical towers in the mine.<\/p>\n Getting there involves two detailed health and safety inductions, a change into bright orange hi-vis and an eight-minute descent in the original lift, constructed more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n The engagement officer, Jonny Gutteridge. Photograph: Gary Calton\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Once there, it feels strangely warm. \u201cYou\u2019re experiencing a million times less radiation than you were 10 minutes ago. Does it feel nice?\u201d asks the lab\u2019s engagement officer, Jonny Gutteridge.<\/p>\n The experiments take place in the salty tunnels and also the air-conditioned lab facilities where, away from the extensive research going on, you feel you could be anywhere.<\/p>\n Workers at a lift shaft at Boulby mine.The project is a partnership between Sheffield University and Farm Urban<\/a>.<\/p>\n The kitchen kettle boils water to make tea, although it boils it hotter than it would on the surface. The toilet flushes, although it is the deepest flushing toilet in the UK.<\/p>\n The farming project is a partnership between Sheffield University and Farm Urban<\/a>, a socially conscious food producer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not here to replace conventional farming,\u201d says Nickles. \u201cWe\u2019re here to work alongside it and there are some things that are just uniquely better suited to controlled environment agriculture. Lettuce is a really good example.\u201d<\/p>\n The aim is to gather the first real-world evidence that uniform, marketable crops can be grown underground.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to First Edition<\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Scientists at work at the Boulby underground lab.<\/p>\n During our visit to the site, there were mixed results. Some crops appeared spectacular, with lettuce bigger than a human head. Others looked less impressive but Nickles is consoled by the fact it is a technical, engineering issue rather than a scientific one.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sad when it doesn\u2019t work \u2026 but I have to keep reminding myself that this is only the first growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall, the 12-month study is going well and Nickles is optimistic about the possibility of samphire and tomatoes being trialled next.<\/p>\n As well as producing food at scale that can be sold and eaten, the project is about reusing the thousands of redundant mines that exist in the UK, creating new jobs and improving access to fresh produce in economically deprived areas.<\/p>\n It is backed by the government, with Patrick Vallance, the then science minister, last month saying: \u201cGrowing fresh food while using less energy and land \u2013 and being less reliant on changeable British weather \u2013 could strengthen food security across our country and protect our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgie Dawson, a science communications industrial placement student.A large pak choi at the Boulby underground laboratory.<\/p>\n The farm research is taking place in a facility that, its supporters say, should be better known.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a hole in North Yorkshire,\u201d says Gutteridge. \u201cWe\u2019re a small team of 20-25 people. But the science that goes on \u2026 In the past we\u2019ve hosted the world\u2019s most sensitive dark factor detector. We\u2019re doing the world\u2019s first deep underground quantum mechanics experiment. We should be so proud as a country to have a place like this.\u201d<\/p>\n The lab\u2019s full name is Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Boulby Underground Laboratory<\/a>. It is the only place like it in the UK and is regarded as internationally important, one of only 12 in the world.<\/p>\n Among the work going on is Durham University\u2019s Quasar project<\/a>, which involves supercooling atoms and aims to \u201copen a completely new frontier for quantum technology in the UK\u201d. Nearby is Birmingham University\u2019s Bond-sounding DarkSphere<\/a>.<\/p>\n The success of the lab means expansion is already under way with stage one: a new cavern providing a factor 5 increase in space, scheduled to be completed in 2030.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782344171_837_1000.jpg\")
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