US: Montgomery, AL - Local Restaurant Farms Out of Shipping Container For Fresher Produce
Freight Farm Up And Running
In Midtown Montgomery
By Jennifer Horton | January 16, 2020
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - They say necessity is the mother of all invention. For a Montgomery restaurant group, a shipping container turned out to be the solution to their problem.
Eric Rivera is the executive chef for Vintage Hospitality, which runs Vintage Year and Vintage Café. He was struggling to find fresh, sustainable lettuce options for his restaurants.
“We found that importing all the stuff from California or from Florida, we would get these lettuces after they’ve been harvested for days and sometimes almost a week by the time we get to them,” Rivera explained. “The product goes bad really fast costs a lot of money to replace that product with other product, it’s just not that quality that we were looking for.”
Enter the Freight Farm, an unassuming shipping container housed in the heart of Old Cloverdale - only steps from his restaurants. The 320 square-foot farm is equipped to grow up to 4 tons of produce a year, according to the manufacturer. It runs on power and minimal water consumption, a stark contrast to the water needed to farm traditional row crops.
“We can control all the elements and control the growth cycles,” he explained. “No rain, no hail, we’re not exposed to any elements.”
Which means they can grow a variety of greens year-round while decreasing the carbon footprint of cross-country supply chains and the threat of lettuce recalls.
“We feel like that it’s our responsibility in the restaurant industry not only provide healthy, nutritious food; but that is done in a socially conscious way as well,” stated Rivera.