It's been hailed as the vertical "snack stack" approach to growing salad and herbs which will revolutionise farming – and the Forest of Dean stood at the forefront of this smart agritech revolution when it welcomed the arrival of key player Jones Food Company (JFC) in February last year.

But just over a year down the line, the space-age food producer which, with the backing of Ocado, set up what became the world's biggest layered production plant at Lydney, has called in administrators RSM UK. A search now begins for an investor to rescue the firm, which closed its doors at the Old Forge, just off the A48, on Monday (April 7).

As revealed by trade publication Fruitnet.com, some 61 staff have been made redundant while a core team of 11 remains at the site, reported to have been built at a cost of £25m, to maintain it while administrators and interested parties consider options.

Confirming the appointment, RSM administrator Damian Webb said: "The company has built a state-of-the-art vertical farming facility with a highly skilled workforce," adding that there was a significant opportunity for a purchaser to build on investment to date by taking the business forward."

Fruitnet said: "JFC designs, builds and operates vertical farms, and has been regarded as being in the vanguard of controlled-environment agriculture. It operates a number of salad brands, including Leaf and Home Grown, which it sells into Ocado and Asda."

As reported in Punchline-Gloucester.com in February last year, Scunthorpe-based JFC said it believed it had "cracked the code" when it opened JFC2 at Lydney, celebrating, among firsts, the factory's exclusive reliance on sustainable energy.

But latest accounts from JFC, covering the year to the end of April 2023, offer a glimpse of the precarious nature of this formative agrisector.

The accounts state: "The Company operates in an industry where the business model for generating economic returns is yet to be proven and external funding will be required for the Company to fulfil its full potential. £25m was raised from new and existing shareholders in April 2021 for the construction of a second vertical farm in Lydney and to cover expected operating losses until that facility was profitable."

Reviews by the company had identified the need for more funding to support its plans for 2023 and 2024, which included £4.5m of asset-related finance secured against the assets of both sites at Scunthorpe and Lydney.

The report added that the company's major shareholder, Ocado Group plc, invested a further £3.65m through the exercise of warrants in April 2023, adding that JFC had received a letter of financial support from Ocado Group ple indicating its willingness to continue support.

Swapping open fields and polytunnels for a layering system where food is grown in laboratory controlled conditions – and thereby banishing the risk of pests and uncontrollable weather – the process which is also known as urban farming has been heralded by agribusiness as a potential haven for investors who might otherwise be spooked by traditional farming's notorious unpredictability.

But despite its cutting-edge aura, the average weekly UK shop includes produce sourced this way. InFarm, as one of Europe's largest vertical farms, yields more than 1,000 tonnes of food per year, while in the USA, Bowery Farming delivers fresh veg to more than 1,100 stores, including Whole Foods, Safeway and Amazon. JFC supplied both Ocado and Asda.

Additionally, US firm AeroFarms has blazed a business trail by taking over ex-industrial areas and attracting billions in funding for stacked food production – not least by proving that the controlled nature of the business minimises use of pesticides and water consumption.

Close to JFC's Bristol trial and development centre, Lydney's plant was used to grow basil, coriander, flat-leaf parsley, dill, lettuce, Pak Choi, Mizuna, Japanese spinach and baby leaf cress. 

By using the layered system, it boasted a boost to yield against standard farming of 17 times. Subsequently surpassed by a similar plant in Dubai, the site's footprint made it the world's biggest such site in 2024: at 148,000 sq ft, it was equivalent to 70 tennis courts.

In January this year, Forest of Dean Labour MP Matt Bishop visited the plant and celebrated its economic value for the district, noting the plant's capacity to deliver more than 1,000 tonnes of food annually.

But with growing conditions at Lydney set to a constant 26C and 75% humidity, does it now look like the prospects for vertical farming have been overcooked?

In an interview last year with the Guardian newspaper, JLC boss James Lloyd-Jones warned of the risks during the business's salad days. 

By setting up in the UK, he said JLC was never awash with cash or much help amid a marketplace made challenging by "very high food standards".

He added that meant selling at a price that is "quite low", which forced the firm to become a lot sharper in how it develops product ranges and pricing.

"I do believe that technology will provide food security in the future, however, not with herbs and salads. But you need to start somewhere ...what we are doing now is creating supply security."

● Confirming today's news, the Ocado Group, as a major shareholder in JFC,  said its investors have been informed of the decision, which was taken by the board of JFC and its leadership team.