Farm of Future Grows Crops Quickly, Efficiently
Farm of Future Grows Crops Quickly, Efficiently
- Matthew Lambert, mlambert@agrinews.com | Nov 21, 2017
Two of many rows of leafy greens, these ones being specifically butter lettuce, inside Living Greens Farm in Faribault, Minn. The farm utilizes vertical growing techniques inside of a warehouse as way to be efficient and environmentally friendly.
Matthew Lambert / mlambert@agrinews.com
FARIBAULT, Minn. — The warehouse that houses Living Greens Farm doesn't look like a place that contains the future of farming.
Located on the north side of Faribault near Interstate 35, Dana Anderson and Dave Augustine are executing "trial and error" tactics to help feed the world.
Augustine said that when he and Anderson began Living Greens in 2012, they ran into more engineering problems than growing issues. Now, they're an efficient machine, growing leafy greens in a 45-day growing cycle compared to the usual 80-90 days.
The farm uses a special frame designed by Anderson in his garage in 2010. While the prototype is different from what's in use today, the basic A-frame is the same: two frames pressed together at the top like a triangle, with room in-between for workers to move through.
It uses the frame for shedding water, allowing the crops, that spend around two weeks before they enter the A-frame setup, to be regularly misted with a nutrient solution.
Living Greens Farm doesn't use soil or water as a growing medium, rather it utilizes aeroponics or vertical growing, maximizing the growing space.
Living Greens Farm grows lettuce varieties, herbs and microgreens, selling around Minnesota and going to market within 24 to 48 hours after harvest.
These aren't genetically inferior crops either. Living Greens Farm grows everything from butter lettuce and upland cress to microgreen arugula and microgreen radish to basil and cilantro, just to name a few.
There are no herbicides or pesticides, not organic, and use little heat and light. Furthermore, Living Greens Farm uses one-200th of the land and 95 percent less water than a traditional farm.
From what began as trial and error has become an efficient machine that shows the potential for farming to be possible anywhere at anytime.
Michelle Keller, the head grower at Living Greens Farm, previously ran a hydroponic lettuce farm for 10 years. She's been with Living Greens Farm for a little more than four years and was familiar with the aeroponic process itself.
Keller can do what the average farmer can't: control the elements.
"I can mimic June 12 months of the year," Keller said.
Keller said the future of farming will likely still have larger fields growing corn, wheat, and oats, but a lack of space makes abandoned buildings or warehouses perfect places for start-up farms.
"This is the answer," Keller said. "It gets you closer to the end consumer, we're not shipping it in, we're not being dependent on foreign countries as much. Some type of indoor farming has to be the answer."
Anderson and Augustine say Rice County and Faribault were "business friendly" for the futuristic venture, but they aren't ruling out the possibility of growing other products or expanding their model and technique elsewhere, including international markets.