International graduates from the University of Sheffield are using the skills they developed during their studies to give back to the South Yorkshire region while transforming the world of vertical farming.

Co-founders Gabrielė Barteškaitė (Lithuania) and David Dixon (Netherlands), along with Alexander La Fleur (UK) and Alastair Roper (UK), secured substantial backing for their sustainable start-up Future Greens, which is based in a former steel mill in Sheffield.

After pioneering a circular system for growing food sustainably, the team is now focused on unlocking the benefits of circularity for food manufacturers that generate inevitable organic waste.

Commenting, Gabrielė said: “I’ve always been interested in building technology to improve our lives and David had an interest in agriculture that stems from his family. We wanted to combine our skills and passions to provide others with better quality food.

"The way I see it, climate change is already happening, and we can't go back in time or stop it completely, thus we must build technology to help us withstand the upcoming environmental shifts. Food is fundamental to our survival; therefore, we are developing a future-proof way of growing it." 

Gabrielė, an Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science student, undertook a nine-month internship with the University Sheffield’s Emerge: Be Enterprising team. Here, she said the skills she acquired during her internship and studies were crucial in getting the company up and running.