A GROUP of MPs paid a visit to Scotland ’s first “vertical farm” yesterday.

Members of Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee were at the James Hutton Institute at Dundee to meet innovation experts seeking to push forward new land management technologies in Scottish farming and crofting.

Vertical farms work by stacking food production in vertical layers, offering the potential benefits of reductions in water wastage, the use of pesticides and food miles.

The globally renowned Hutton Institute’s vertical farm is partially funded by the Tay Cities Deal development programme Committee chair Pete Wishart said: “Innovative farming techniques could help Scotland harness its agricultural potential and become a global hub for technologies and techniques that support environmentally sound farming.”