Bomb shelter turned into a clean vegetable farm in London

Taking advantage of abandoned bomb shelter underground, two British businessmen successfully built a model farm of multi-level hydroponic vegetables.

Growing Underground farm is located beneath the streets of Clapham, England.

Born in an abandoned bomb shelter from World War II, this vegetable production base specializes in producing herbs and salads serving restaurants in the city. "The idea came from my interest in sustainable development. That is the future of cities," CNN yesterday quoted Richard Ballard, co-founder of the farm.

With rising housing prices in London, traditional vegetable farms have long been absent from the city.However, Ballard and partner Steven Dring came up with the idea of ​​turning vegetable gardens into the Clapham shelter they discovered during filming.

Located at a depth of 33m below the ground, the multi-storey bunker was built between 1940-1942 to protect 8,000 Londoners from Nazi World War II bombings.

This bomb shelter was abandoned after the war.Ballard and Dring began operating the farm after getting approval from the London Department of Transportation with a start-up capital of more than one million dollars in 2014.

Vegetables are grown on recycled mats using hydroponics hydroponics.The LED system provides the light and heat needed to grow vegetables.The prices of lettuce and herbs are very good but still not enough to meet the needs of local restaurants.

In the future, vegetables grown underground may appear in supermarkets and reach the common people. "The bunk beds inside the tunnel were used during the war when London was destroyed by bombs. Now, we are using a similar 3-4-storey system to supply food to London , " Ballard said.

Growing Underground farm also helps inspire farmers who are looking for advanced solutions to produce food in areas where land is scarce.