No sunlight, no soil – no worries as vertical farming looks stacked with promise

Plant Biologist Robert Coe and horticulturist Manon Van Kempen tend to strawberry crops in a controlled climate room owned by vertical farming player Stacked Farm. Photograph: Dan Peled/Dan Peled for The Guardian Australia

Not far from the fertile farmlands known as Australia’s salad bowl, rows of fruit and vegetables are being cultivated without sunlight or soil.

Perfect-looking strawberries, tomatoes, baby cos lettuces and coriander grow under moody purple fluorescent lighting. Here in the research wing of a 4000 sq metre facility at Arundel on the Gold Coast, the intensity and timing of light, the humidity of the air, and the nutrients in the water supply are all intricately controlled.