THE company behind a huge “vertical farm” in the Forest of Dean backed by retail giant Ocado has called in the receivers.

The Jones Food Co billed its salad-growing operation at the former JD Norman factory near Lydney as revolutionary and the future of farming.

But the company, which also ran another farm at Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire and a research facility in Bristol, has now made 61 people redundant.

The shock move comes just weeks after HRH Princess Anne was given a tour of the factory when she visited the Forest.

Damian Webb and Stephanie Sutton of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory in London were appointed as administrators on April 7.

The main investor in the company was the Ocado online retailer group.

It has said it hopes another backer can be found and their thoughts are with those affected by the collapse.

Vertical farms grow crops such as salad leaves in climate-controlled conditions on stacked layers.

But they are intensive users of energy and have struggled to become profitable.

The Lydney farm ran on 100 per cent renewably sourced energy.

In an interview with Ian Mean, of the Forest Economic Partnership published last year, company boss James Lloyd Jones said the Lydney farm would “revolutionise” food production in the UK.

In the interview, Mr Jones said: “This farm represents a coming of age for agricultural technology in the UK.

“We have now cracked the code for accessible, sustainable, premium food being grown all year round at a super competitive price.”

When it opened, the Lydney factory was said to be the biggest of its kind in the world.

There were 44 kilometres of lights and millions of plants were being grown in eight aisles 75 metres long and 10 metres high.