Hydroponics Farm In Downtown Shreveport Progressing

• Jun 15, 2018

TownNews.com Content Exchange

A farm in downtown Shreveport. Not something you would expect to hear about or see.

Well, you probably never will see this particular farm. It's behind an old brick wall in downtown Shreveport.

"We're at 406 Cotton Street. This used to be the old, originally Alltel and then Verizon's networking building. We're in the process right now of removing the old wires and networking equipment and retrofitting it to be an indoor hydroponics farm," said Michael Billings of Cotton Street Farms.

For those of you not familiar with hydroponics, Billings explains: "Hydroponics separates/removes the plant from the dirt. We use a medium, with a mixture of water and nutrients. We have computers that monitor everything so we can provide the exact nutrient level for that plant."

"It's kind of a futuristic ... perhaps ... look at growing food. But it's also local food. So it's food grown locally in Shreveport, which is kind of a great thing," said Carl E. Motsenbocker, LSU AgCenter horticulture professor.

Cotton Street Farms plans on producing lettuce, kale, spinach, herbs, micro greens, mushrooms and some hops for local beer makers. Billings says he can produce about a million dollars worth of produce in this space per year.

"We'll be setting up rows, vertical growing rows. It will look something similar to a library. Tall stacks about 8 feet tall with power and water going to all of them," said Billings.

He says the vegetables will cost about the same as what you would expect to pay at Whole Foods, but they will be freshly picked within hours and stay good much longer. Motsenbocker agrees with that assessment based on his experience.

"We have a small hydroponics system at LSU. We harvest with the roots on and it'll stay in your refrigerator for four to six weeks, I mean it lasts a long time," Motsenbocker said.

Ordering and delivery of these vegetables will be quite futuristic as well. Customers will use an app called Waitr. Many of you probably already use it to get Chinese food or pizza delivered. This Caddo Magnet graduate hopes to have his products on your doorstep this fall.

"We're not just growing plants, we're growing Shreveport and we're very excited about it," Billings said.

Cotton Street Farms made it to the top 5 of the Louisiana Startup Prize presented by EAP -- Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program -- last year. Billings says what he learned through that was invaluable, and he's competing again this year for the top prize.

RELATED STORY: EAP producing results with new startup companies

This article originally ran on ktbs.com.Tags

• Agriculture Cotton Street Farms Hydroponics Michael Billings Lsu Agcenter
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• Carl E. Motsenbocker Shreveport Waitr Louisiana Startup Prize
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• Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program Farm Economics Food Botany
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• Vegetable Cotton

Locations

• Louisiana Shreveport