This year the Grow It York team showcased the vertical farm by getting involved on the Taste Trail event. Festival visitors were offered a ‘sample’ of a mix of fresh produce grown at the vertical farm and an informative chat with Grow It York experts about sustainable food systems and how to grow healthy food indoors.

Grow It York teamed up with Edible York to carry out an event within the Tang Hall community in York focussing on how our local food is cooked into delicious meals. Young chefs cooked quick and yummy dishes using seasonal locally grown food. The Grow It York team showcased the vertical farm through fresh produce tastings and fun games for kids and families. A fun day for families with competitions, prizes, lucky dip all with an environmental and local theme as part of the York Environment Week.

The team at the vertical farm was part of this unique programme run by the University of York. Secondary/high school students aged 16-19 planning to enter higher education were able to get a taste of what it means to study at a top UK university. The Departments of Biology and Chemistry developed 2 weeks of activities on the theme on Feeding the Future. Students had the opportunity to see how a vertical farm works in practice and to analyse the nutritional content of the products grown on the farm in the lab.

Grow It York had a stall at the Family Fun Day of the York Festival of Ideas. The team talked with visitors about vertical farming and how it can contribute to a sustainable food system. Families could try lots of different produce from microradish to garlic chives - and even electric daisies, not for the fainthearted!

Katherine and Alana from the Grow It York team participated in the Pint of Science 2022 - Fixing York's Food and Water, explaining how their glowing pink container could hold the key to unlocking a sustainable future for urban farming. They revealed how an aeroponic vertical farm works, and offered the public a chance to taste Grow It York fresh produce and look inside the farm!

We welcomed 50 children from 6 schools across Yorkshire involved in the FIxOurFood “Leaders for Change'' programme. The day involved the children aged 7-17 meeting each other, learning about the interaction between food and climate change, exploring and tasting fresh produce from Grow It York. The “Leaders” are groups of children passionate about food and climate change, who are participating in activities in their schools, such as the school council.

Four York primary school classes visited Spark:York. They played the Food Emissions Challenge Game, to rank different foods by their carbon emissions while discussing why different foods can have varying climate impact. The children then had a chance to visit Grow It York and chat with the team about the farm and this new way of producing food.