AVF recently caught up with Marcus Comaschi, the Founder and R&D Director of Gyroplant, for a Q&A. Read on to hear about the latest and upcoming developments at Gyroplant.

Who is GyroPlant? 

We are a UK based team on a mission to advance the next generation of plant cultivation in CEA. That’s everything from smart home hydroponic growing systems to space-based plant growth systems and everything in between. We’re within vertical farming and have a broader CEA reach and focus on hydroponics and whole head produce not micro greens, but anything from a basil plant upwards to a tree is in our remit.

We want to eliminate problems – by designing technologies to reduce inputs and create a truly sustainable and resilient farm.

We offer clean, reusable, and waste-free substrate technologies to create resilient production systems to reduce those inputs into the CEA farms. About 125 R&D projects across commercial businesses and universities have been able to integrate the GyroCup™ technology into projects. Our substrate-free technology supports various plants, including legumes, herbs, roots, berries, and trees, offering a cleaner, more efficient, sustainable cultivation system.

We are a user-centred and crop-centred business. It’s amazing how many shows we go to, and nobody’s talking about the crop. But, as soon as you have the crop and the grower at the centre of the food production system, everything stems from there, and you can get into rapidly wild and different conversations about growing food and how to build resilient food networks

Aside from CEA, TCEA (a subset of CEA)  is a niche sector where you can create unique produce that you cannot otherwise create in a certain environment and location for a particular type of community, and these are the places where we see the success stories within the VF sector.

Our products deliver sustainability – and, for some crops, improve plant production and growth.

What is your technology?

Over the last three years, we’ve developed numerous novel silicone rubber cups. GyroCup™ can be used to host the stem, seed or the roots of the crop to grow inside any hydroponic system. The silicone cups are a more sustainable alternative to traditional substrates like rock wool, peat or coir. We created a reusable cup that is more beneficial for the planet, not just in terms of carbon but also for preserving natural ecosystems, including high-density rainforests. 

Silicone rubber lasts a long time, up to 15 years, and you can keep the GyroCup™ onsite removing the need for a continuous flow of packaging and substrate into a farm.

GyroCup™ comes in standard and bespoke sizes. Every crop requires a slightly different germination process and propagation process and is a different size. We work with CEA Growers looking at growing, say, a pea or a radish, and then we design a cup specifically for their type of CEA irrigation system and crop.

You can also use the GyroCup™s with plant cuttings, and we are working with companies who are growing Eucalyptus cuttings substrate-free, and they can control the growing process efficiently and without diseases, which can be common when using some substrates.

And then we also have the GyroSnap™. GyroSnap™ is a method of growing with zero substrate. The design accommodates smaller seed types like lettuce and herb seeds, common crops within the vertical farming sector.

CEA prides itself on creating a clean environment and our substrate free technology provides a clean and uniform media in which to grow every time.

What is unique about your product and approach?

The answer to this question is sector-dependent.

Within the CEA and VF growing world, our products are known for:

• Being reusable 
• Being made from silicone
• Allowing substrate-free growing or use with simple hydrogels
• Being available in a variety of sizes/customisable
• Providing the cleanest environment to grow plants in
• Helping to prevent diseases
• Enabling the growth of many crops, which otherwise could not happen within single-use substrates
• Being suitable for crops other than food –  For example the pharmaceutical and cosmetic sector
• Can be integrated into an automated growing system

In the Space Sector – we are working with multiple space agencies around the world and testing with them in-house to grow plants using no substrate for future space flights. Growing using substrate in space is expensive and the space environment is not somewhere that you can use something once and throw it away. Our Space work helps us innovate rapidly, which is why we have designed over 2 different products in use in only the last two years. 

Home hydroponic systems – GyroCup™ means cleaner growing environments. Home systems have unique and different value points from other sectors: they are fun to play with, somewhat stress relieving, and with no substrate, they are less messy as they don’t produce the algae layer you often find when using substrates. Less mess means no flies and less mold to worry about, two concerns which frequently put off home growers using substrates in their home hydroponic system.

Customisation – From our 125+ crop projects going on currently we understand that everyone has different requirements and different methodologies. Indoor growing systems come in all different shapes and sizes, so we needed to develop a product that could hold and produce a plant at various angles and with multiple movements and motions. So, over the last few years, a big part of our work has been customising cups within different irrigation systems. The GyroCup™ design allows seeds and plants to be held in multiple ways and the cups are easily fixed into various holes and gutters, which you cannot do with a substrate as it’s too soft and breaks apart.

Big companies using existing systems need some retrofitting to scale up. 

But working with the early stage companies is really valuable for us because they can integrate the cup design in everything from germination to cleaning, within the turnkey system at the beginning. If you are growing 100 crops to tens of thousands and moving into hundreds of thousands of plants, that’s where the customisation comes in. These growers need the cup design to be correct at the start of the project, so we do the R&D with them early so the bespoke GyroCup™ is ready when they need it.

In smaller growing systems it is possible to adapt the hydroponic system design at this scale more easily.  In a small container plant growing 5000 plants, our standard range of 30 millimetres, 40 millimetres and 50 millimetres GyroCup™ and the GyroSnap™ works perfectly. 

We also help growers with recommendations on how to grow a particular crop because growing substrate-free is a different way of growing: it’s a different process.  Once a grower sees the value in a substrate-free approach, it is a big win for them because it saves resources, including reducing labour costs and disease issues. 

What do you see as the potential of your technology going forward?

Helping to support growing more nutritious plants especially in Europe – for example novel legume production as GyroCup™ is particularly suited for big crops which would otherwise use a large amount of substrate. Berries are another crop to focus on, we are currently working with Dole foods on this. 

Propagating tree saplings where our research shows that GyroCup™ also improves growth compared to growing with some substrates. Growing tree saplings also makes economic sense with the available ESG and carbon credit systems.

Improving Sustainability + Plant Growth – Our tests and research show positive results in deep water culture and aeroponic systems, where we see much better plant growth than when it grows in substrates. We would like to continue research to see that same improvement in a substrate free environment for novel crops such as legumes and tree samplings and also for other novel crops for cosmetic purposes or pharmaceutical purposes.

Increasing localised food production – home-based hydroponic systems, local hybrid vertical farms for particular niche crops (e.g. vertical farm working alongside a greenhouse) and growing in schools – 400-500 plant setups. These are beneficial ways to grow sustainably and eliminate plastic which accounts for much of the carbon in your food cycle. 

Learning from the Space Sector – although sometimes quite contentious, the space sector is excellent for rapid innovation. Currently working with space agencies on R&D to cultivate crops in novel ways that can be applied directly to greenhouse or polytunnel growing or in another sector here on earth. There will be some exciting space projects across three continents in the coming  months so keep an out for that will showcase the value of Astrobotany Research 

What is your strategy or goals for this year? 

Continuing Research & Developments – we currently have around 125 projects, with a mix of commercial and R&D focussed. We have been undertaking a research study with the University of Turin, and they’ve been testing GyroSnap™ and GyroCup™ in all different types of cultivation technologies. So, we are going to be continuing research with universities.  

Also continuing our BBSRC and IUK funded research into substrate free growing. Research at the UK Agri-Tech Centre to help refine our and explore more growing protocols for different irrigation systems to provide a better starting point for growers to go substrate-free. We are looking at germination and propagation within a substrate-free environment.

Hydrogels – we cover a wide range of crops, and we know from extensive research some crops require a very small amount of hydrogels to get off to a good start. Our designs have been made with this in mind, and are compatible with a wide range of off the shelf hydrogels. We now have our own hydrogel solutions which are providing a massive success for particular applications which can be used in conjunction with our technology.  

Designing new products – releasing and showcasing many more products for commercial use. When scaling up, it’s often the case we need to design custom features on our technology, our ever expanding in-house knowledge has proven highly valuable to our customers. 

Seeing more GyroCup™ use on smaller hydroponic systems, in school growing projects, or small container farm sizes, and for more novel crops to be grown in greenhouses. 

Automation – most of our customers so far have been smaller farms. Still, we are currently working with some very large farms on R&D and hoping to increase the automation of the GyroCup™ within the elements of the growing process for some of them over the coming year.

Scaling – we have helped set up multiple Zero-substrate free farms this year, and we are looking to continue our mission to create as many zero substrate farms as we can.  

What are you looking for in the vertical farming space at the minute – what  kind of collaborators  

Schools using hydroponic systems and growing 500-100 plants – they are passionate about growing and we can partner with them around sustainability and plant education.

More novel hydroponic systems – many startups are out there creating tower systems, shelving systems, and window farming for offices, studios, and public spaces, and we see the value of joining up with them.

Niche CEA crops – if you’ve got a novel high-value crop that you’re struggling to grow and potentially substrate is a big factor in that, then we know we can help. 

University Projects – the agricultural sector are real leaders persuading the growers to grow in a particular way. So, although we do have lots of universities using our products, we are looking for more university projects. We can help showcase sustainability and the effects on the plant’s well-being. We showed with the University of Turin that we get better crops, we get healthy crops, and more happy crops growing substrate-free. Working with more universities for those sorts of projects would be great. 

Irrigation companies – if you’re an NFT vertical farmer, we would love to test with you and showcase that GyroCup™ is for all hydroponic systems, whether small, simple, large-scale, or complex. We have the growing protocols in house for all types of irrigation. 

Life Cycle Assessment & Variables – the sector needs to go beyond just carbon as there are so many more variables and inputs to consider, many of which currently are not sufficiently considered. When we ran our LCA with East London University, we knew that we reduce carbon by at least 80% depending on the crop, up to 98% in some situations. But also, to compare reusing something compared to single-use, considering all inputs of their system in a circular way – production, substrates, water, chemicals, energy, environmental costs, packaging, shipping, disposal, etc.

It’s been a great year so far scaling up and helping set up zero substrate, resilient and self-sufficient farms. Many companies are doing well with inputs like energy, LED, heating, and onsite renewable energy systems using solar and wind, and that’s all fantastic. We also help customers with their LCA, and we’re actively engaged in seeing the overall holistic, science based picture for each place-based farm.