NBA Player Builds Modern Alternative Farm In Oklahoma

MAY 25, 2018, BY LACEY LETT

NBA Player Builds A Modern Alternative Farm In Oklahoma

EDMOND, Okla. - NBA player Ekpe Udoh is keeping busy during the off-season.

He's back in his hometown of Edmond working on his new urban farm.

"Welcome to LGR Farms,” said Ekpe Udoh, owner of LGR Farms.

A hydroponic container farm that grows vertical crops.

It's herbicide and pesticide free and uses filtered water instead of soil to grow leafy greens and herbs.

"For our crops, we will be doing butterhead lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, kale and romaine lettuce,” Udoh said.

Udoh started the process four years ago.

Since then, he's become an expert in modern farming.

After the seeds harvest, they grow on a vertical crop.

LGR Farms is high-tech, too, using an app to control the system.

"We can control the temperature, the water here on the table, the main towers," he said.

The main benefit?

A 40-foot shipping container can yield huge results.

"This probably has the footprint of an acre and a half, and I'm turning it over every four to six weeks and in the winter it's still growing,” Udoh said.

Starting in July, Udoh plans to sell to chefs, grocery stores and at the same time, give back to inner city school children.

"I'm from Edmond, Oklahoma, so we were afforded the luxury of a salad bar. Hopefully, I can introduce that into schools and give kids something else as a choice to be much healthier than what they might be eating,” he said.

A healthy lifestyle is something very important to Udoh.

Eventually, he'd like to have five of these shipping container farms in operation, adding in herbs and greens from all over the world.

"Find these powerful herbs that can be for medical or just for your food. Just make it taste better,” Udoh said. "Keep people dancing and eating salads."

It will take four to six weeks to yield the first crop, but plans to eventually produce 500 heads of lettuce a week.

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