The Irish vertical farm growing basil without soil

It requires less land and uses up to 10 times less water than traditional soil crops

Stephen McCormack, McCormack Family Farms with the hydroponically grown SuperValu Signature Tastes Microgreen Mixes

More and more Irish consumers can eat hydroponically grown products, with micro greens launched in SuperValu supermarkets, and the Compass foodservice group signing a deal for basil produced without using soil.

In traditional growing, soil is a major source of nutrients for plants but with hydroponics, alternatives to those nutrients are directly fed to plants instead, and growing can be moved indoors.