Shipping Container Farms Bring Food Source Closer To City Dwellers

ABC Rural 

By Jessica Schremmer

April 15, 2018

Growing herbs and vegetables vertically in shipping containers is a rising trend in Australia and aims to reduce food waste and food miles.

The Canadian company Modular Farms Co. launched its first vertical hydroponic farm in Brisbane last month, and not only supplies food vendors at the city's Eat Street Northshore markets with fresh 'farm to plate' produce, but also helps food rescue organizations like OzHarvest to provide food for people in need.

Modular Farms Australia director James Pateras is a third-generation farmer who experienced the devastating impact of drought on his family farm in Victoria and decided to find new ways to farm, integrating technology.

"Going through drought was one of the biggest pains with this type of agriculture," he said.

"I realized then that the techniques used in traditional agriculture were something that had to change, especially if we wanted to continue for the next 100 years and be able to feed the planet.

"I think the climate and adverse weather events are the biggest challenges to traditional farming, followed by disease."

Mr Pateras said the motivation behind the new farm project was to reduce food waste and create food security.

"We want to reduce food miles and give people a fresher product on their plate by being able to take the farm to the cities," he said.

"We can grow 365 days a year and are able to control the plants' biology and environment, so by doing that we are eliminating the possibility of any pathogens coming into the farm and don't have to rely on the next rain event.

"In the farm itself we can grow up to 1,000 heads of lettuce a week, so about 52,000 lettuce heads a year."

The vegetables and herbs are grown in recycled plastic in a closed loop system, with LED lighting, recycled air and 40 litres of water a day.

Expertise needed to grow safe produce

Protected cropping is one of the fastest-growing areas of food production in the country, with almost 30 percent of all Australian farmers growing produce in some form of a soil-less culture system. according to peak vegetable industry body Ausveg.

Ausveg CEO James Whiteside said the organisation supported innovation in growing vegetables.

"This [the modular farm] is a prime example of thinking outside the box and using recycled material to create a new environment to grow fresh produce," Mr Whiteside said.

"It is an innovative way to close the gap between the farm gate and a consumer's plate, as urban growers and the general public have an opportunity to see how vegetables can be grown in this new environment.

"Containerised farming is another way of producing vegetables and it has the potential to work well in urban environments."

However, a hydroponic farm owner in far north Queensland is warning people about growing herbs in containerised farming systems without expert knowledge.

Neil Carpenter, owner of the Village Herb Farm in Kuranda, said it was very important to produce a safe product.

"If you think containers are a 'put chemical in one end and get herbs out the other' then you are endangering the public," he said.

"Sterility, seed control and disease checking are the three fundamentals for anyone going into urban farming."

Potential markets in Asia

Mr Carpenter said he did not see containerized farming as a major competitor in the market space in Australia.

"In Australia, power is very expensive and that is one of the major challenges to containerized farming," he said.

"I think they could be a big deal in Hong Kong, where people are prepared to pay a premium to be reassured that the risk of travel-related disease is reduced.

"In Australia it's only a niche market."

Poulet & Porc director and chef Peter Dressler has a food stall restaurant at Eat Street Northshore and uses some of the freshly produced herbs from the onsite modular farm.

He said it was great to get produce that he was not able to source from Brisbane's major fruit and vegetable wholesaler.

"It's really impressive what can be grown is such a small space.

"I think it would be quite hard for them to compete for price with Brisbane's major fruit and vegetable wholesaler in Rocklea," Mr Dressler said.

"Their niche will be building relationships with all the food vendors.

"I have tried the modular farm's basil, varieties of kale and coriander and they got the tick from me.

"We yet have to see if it all works but for us, it's about getting the consistency."

Mr. Pateras said it was his aim to broaden people's perspectives on agriculture.

"There will be skeptics of containerized farming out there," he said.

"But in this modern day and with a lot of countries, especially in Asia, turning towards factories to farm produce in, I think containerised farming definitely will have a long future."

Topics: herbs, science-and-technology, food-and-beverage, horticulture, food-and-cooking, agricultural-crops, australia, canada, qld, asia, brisbane-4000