VIDEO: Freight Farm To Teach Youth About Sustainable Agriculture

by Nicole Weaving

July 24th, 2021

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Freight Farm to teach youth about sustainable agriculture (Photo Credit: NTV News)

LINCOLN, Neb. — Beyond School Bells is partnering with the Bay in Lincoln for a new after-school program that will teach students about sustainable ag technology.

"We really see Freight Farm as kind of that key, climate-change impervious tool that young people need to know about as we face an uncertain future," said Jeff Cole, Network Lead for Beyond School Bells.

An old shipping container in the parking lot of the Bay has been transformed in a self-contained hydroponic farm.

Using red and blue LED lights, this Freight Farm, known as the Greenery, creates a climate-controlled environment, where the plants grow vertically without a need for soil.

"We enrich the water with nutrients that would normally be in the soil," said Colton Harper, Organizing Manager for the Greenery. "And then in these grow walls, we've got spickets that come right through these foam and it's directly onto the roots of the plants."

According to Harper, there are currently about 6,000 plants growing in the Freight Farm, but at full capacity, it can hold 13,000 plants between the seeding area and that walls. That would produce the equivalent of a 2.5-acre farm year-round.

"Even in the winter, if there are shortages anywhere, we can turn on a dime, 7-week grow cycle and be able to provide those crops for local markets," said Harper.

The Greenery arrived in Lincoln in April, and Harper has led to two teams to get it up and running. They are currently preparing for their first harvest with items like basil, lettuce and radishes.

"We're at about Week 7, and in 2-3 weeks, we'll have our produce at a farmer's market," said Harper.

After a few more grow cycles, the program will open to local students to teach them all aspects of sustainable farming.

"From the electrical side, the growing, the programming, computer science to the irrigation, the HVAC system, there's so many elements," said Harper. "And we're particularly well-placed with the Bay and their digital design area of focus, the students will also be able to design the packaging, design the labeling, so it's really a full-circle, interdisciplinary opportunity for the students to get involved."

The Greenery plans to hold a Harvest Party to celebrates the farm's success in the coming weeks.

USA - ALABAMA: Auburn College of Agriculture Using High-Tech Shipping Containers To Grow Produce For Campus Dining

High-tech Horticulture

Unique ‘Vertical’ Farms part of Planned 16-Acre Transformation Garden On Campus

June 10, 2021

Josh Woods | College of Agriculture

Recycled shipping containers have gained popularity in recent years, being converted into everything from houses to small stores—but the Auburn University College of Agriculture, in partnership with Campus Dining, is using them as self-contained “vertical” farms to grow produce to serve to students.

In April, the college acquired two Freight Farms shipping containers that have been converted into technologically advanced hydroponic growing stations in which plants grow vertically indoors without soil, getting their nutrition from water and light energy from powerful LEDs.

Now, the farms are producing the first crop of lettuce.

“This is state of the art,” said Desmond Layne, head of the Department of Horticulture. “We're talking growing from seed to fork in four to six weeks, depending on whether it is lettuce, arugula or another vegetable crop that can grow in there. And we can produce 15 times as much per year as we could outside in the same exact spot.”

Associate Professor of Horticulture Daniel Wells taught a vertical farming course this spring and leads operations of the vertical farms.

Wells said the containers are outfitted with a complete climate control system, which includes air conditioning and humidity control. Because they are highly insulated, the system ensures the same climate 365 days a year.

The converted containers also have an elaborate lighting system, giving all the light the plants need from two color LEDs.

“We can do any number of colors of lights,” he said. “But it turns out for photosynthesis, plants use mostly red and blue light. What’s neat about that is you can cut out a lot of the other color spectrum, creating far less heat energy. That's very efficient. It means more of the energy used is turned into light than heat.”

The containers also allow for controlled carbon dioxide levels, which accelerates plant growth.

“Ambient CO2, what you and I are exposed to every day, is about 400 ppm [parts per million],” he said. “And that’s fine, plants can grow there. But if we boost the CO2 to 1,000 ppm, they’ll grow faster. And because we’re containing the CO2, the plants can really use it. And it’s not dangerous for humans at all.”

Wells and Director of Dining and Concessions Glenn Loughridge first initiated a partnership between the College of Agriculture and Campus Dining five years ago through the Auburn Aquaponics Project, which uses hydroponics and aquaculture technologies to provide a system in which nutrient-laden wastewater from fish production is used as a food source for plant growth. Today, fish from this effort are served in dining facilities on the Auburn campus.

The new vertical farms build on that effort.

“We're in the process of finishing a $26 million dining hall in the center of campus,” Loughridge said. “It has always been foremost in my mind that we would have the opportunity to feature produce grown here on campus in that dining hall. In our biggest location, our biggest asset, we want to bring our A-game.

“This is hyper-local, on-campus sourcing,” he added. “Can you imagine being a potential student coming to tour, seeing where these products are grown, and then going to eat there? It’s incredible. We truly believe this elevates our dining experience.”

The converted shipping containers were manufactured by Freight Farms, a Boston-based company operating in 45 states and 28 countries.

“There are a few different companies out there doing this,” Layne said. “But Freight Farms is the most sophisticated. They’re the ones who have both the best product on the market and the largest production of these containers. It’s really a best-case scenario.”

Adam Lenhard, a rising senior majoring in biological agricultural technology management, said Wells’ course has been one of the most influential courses he’s taken at Auburn.

“It has been very helpful, not just in preparation for the arrival of the freights, but also in learning all about new hydroponic technologies and growing techniques,” Lenhard said. “Post-graduation, I plan to continue to work with these types of indoor, LED hydroponic systems. My primary goal after college is to normalize urban hydroponic farming, provide large, consistent yields of fresh vegetables and provide food to those in need who do not have as much access to fresh produce.”

Transformation Garden

The vertical farms are located on the College of Agriculture’s planned 16-acre Transformation Garden on the south end of the university’s campus, near the intersection of Lem Morrison Drive and Duncan Drive. The goal of the garden is to encompass every aspect of plant-based agriculture, including everything from fruits and vegetables to ornamentals to grow crops and more.

The Transformation Garden will showcase new technology and the history of agriculture, as it envelops Auburn’s Old Rotation, a single-acre research plot created in 1896. Continuously since that year, the historic landmark has been the site for testing and advancing transformative ideas that are now commonplace—ideas like crop rotation, cover crops, and low- and no-till farming.

(Written by: Kristen Bowman)

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HELP DEVELOP THE TRANSFORMATION GARDEN

To help develop the new Transformation Garden, you can give online or contact Phillip Cowart, College of Agriculture director of development, at poc0001@auburn.edu or 334-844-1198.

Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.

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USA-VIRGINIA: New Moneta Farm Redefines Method of Growing Fresh Produce

Its Growing 6,000 Greens A Month In A 40-Foot Box

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MONETA, Va. – A new veteran-owned farm in Moneta is revamping traditional farming with advanced technology to serve up the freshest greens all year long.

Ditching the soil and bringing in a laptop, there’s a new hydroponic farm in Moneta.

Using selective lighting, balancing pH and nutrient levels, and releasing water through a bar of foam, Vittone Farms is growing 6,000 greens a month in a 40-foot box.

“365 days a year is what we can do,” Jeff Vittone, owner of Vittone Farms, said. “Which is also busting some paradigms. Like, ‘how do you do this and why is it ready and why is it so green?’ And it’s like well, it’s all grown here.”

The farm also uses green power by using a solar panel to produce a variety of foods stemming from lettuce to radishes to even carrots.

A lover of salads, Vittone said he got into hydroponics after noticing major food waste after E. coli scares.

After serving eight years active duty in the Air Force and a total of 12 years in the Virginia Air National Guard, Vittone turned his hobby into a business to put more fresh food on local tables.

“I believe if you ask any veteran they will say that after my duty to my country was served,” he said. “It’s like going without water. You still want to serve to some capacity.”

Now, he is calling on other veterans to get into the business.

By using only about five gallons of water a day, he encourages people to try container farming if they don’t have much land.

“If you have two, three acres of land that is just not enough to produce to make money but that’s enough for this to be there…small local communities and food deserts need this kind of technology.”

Hosting the Smith Mountain Lake Farmer’s Market, Vittone plans to highlight other local businesses from now till the week before Thanksgiving.

The farmer’s market is open on Fridays from 2 p.m to 6 p.m and Saturdays from 10 a.m to 2 p.m.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alexus Davila

Alexus joined 10 News in October 2020.

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USA - ILLINOIS - Tasty, Fresh And Sustainable

Glenview Man's Hydroponic Farm

Uses Technology To Grow Garden Variety Produce

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5/12/2021

By Dave Oberhelman
doberhelman@dailyherald.com

This is not your grandfather's farm.

It's not Aviad Sheinfeld's grandfather's farm, either -- but Wiseacre Farm is a bridge between childhood days spent on grandparents Yechezkel and Hadassah Gluzman's farm in an Israeli moshav and Sheinfeld's modern training.

That combination has resulted in some of the best greens his customers have ever tasted, grown indoors by futuristic, sustainable methods.

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Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

"I don't know if it was a goal. I never thought about becoming a farmer. I was always good with computers, so working with computers was kind of the assumed path," said Sheinfeld, 49, of Glenview.

"I think my childhood experiences on the farm really gave me more of an ingrained appreciation for what it takes to grow food. The thing I remember most is the apple orchards and the peaches my grandparents grew, but they also grew roses and sheep, so also animals."

There are no animals, roses, or peaches at Wiseacre Farm, a rectangular, 320-square-foot container farm inside a warehouse Sheinfeld rents in an industrial area at 1975 N. Lake Terrace, Glenview.

Wiseacre's specialty, available by 10-week subscriptions through www.wiseacre.farm, is leafy greens. A recent delivery included six heads of lettuce of differing varieties. Another package will offer the lettuce plus herbs and other greens -- things like parsley, chives, Thai basil, red-veined sorrel, curly kale with chard.

Sheinfeld sometimes delivers his produce the day it's harvested. Reviews are strong.

"Most of our customers have remarked that they had no idea that lettuce, basil -- fill in the blank, whatever produce -- tastes that way," said Sheinfeld's daughter, Yael, who is finishing her last semester at Northeastern University in Boston, but also handling Wiseacre marketing and communications.

"I think it's hard to understand just how much the taste disappears with travel, with chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides, with just time, honestly, and sitting on a grocery store shelf," she said.

Growing crops indoors in Wiseacre Farm's controlled hydroponic environment eliminates the need for herbicides and pesticides. Serving customers within about a 10-mile radius also lends a neighborly appeal.

"It's not just buying your food from anonymous company X," Aviad said.

His father, Sam, also works on the farm. Yael -- and occasionally Aviad and Kari Sheinfeld's two teenage boys, Rahm and Lev -- are fourth-generation farmhands.

Finalizing financing and incorporation in 2018, in November 2019 Sheinfeld received his container farm from Freight Farms of Boston. He said there's a couple hundred of these repurposed shipping container farms worldwide. When he needs advice he reaches farmers in Alaska, Minnesota, Tennessee, even Tasmania.

The interior includes vertical panels about 10 feet tall in which the plants soak up rays of LED lights embedded into opposing panels. The plant panels can be removed and placed horizontally when the plants are ready for harvesting.

The media is not soil but water, to which nutrients are added automatically, manually controlled by computer. Hydroponic methods are 98% more water-efficient than traditional farming, Yael said. Through recycling irrigation water and capturing the water transpired by the plants, on average the farm uses less than 5 gallons of water a day. On very humid days, the farm will capture more water than it uses.

Nutrients, drip irrigation, temperature, humidity, lighting -- all are computer-controlled.

"As farming goes, it's kind of posh," Aviad Sheinfeld said.

"The thing about this farm is it's very technically advanced, so it kind of marries my initial interest in agriculture and my insatiable appetite for technological gadgets all into one big toy," he said.

He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and added DePaul University master's degrees in network communications and information security and in computational finance.

First working as a software engineer with Motorola, he veered into stay-at-home dad mode after he and Kari, an attorney, started having children. The couple sent their kids to the Science & Arts Academy in Des Plaines, where Aviad served three years as board chairman. During that time, the academy explored hydroponics as part of the curriculum.

"That's kind of where I caught the bug, so to speak," he said.

No bugs at Wiseacre Farm. There is lots of energy consumption.

"We have lights that are powered by electricity and we use a lot of technology, so that is one resource that we use a lot of," Yael Sheinfeld said.

And still ...

"What's wonderful is, due to our partnership with Arcadia (Power, a renewable energy company out of Washington, D.C.) all of the electricity that we consume now is 100 percent offset with wind-generated, renewable energy. So it sort of allows us to keep that focus, knowing that's the main resource we still need to use, but doing that in a more sustainable way," she said.

For lettuce, from seed to harvest it takes only 8 weeks for the container farm to grow the equivalent of 2 acres of traditional farmland, Aviad said. He plans on about six annual growing cycles.

His first crop came through last March, right at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially targeting restaurants for his produce, he shifted to a farm-to-table model. Customers also can now pick up goods at the farm itself on Saturdays, though preordering is a must. All packages and purchasing options are available at www.wiseacre.farm.

In its short time, Wiseacre Farm has gained acclaim beyond consumer taste buds. It won Silver for innovation in the Glenview Natural Resources Department's 2020 Environmental Sustainability Awards, and on March 28 the farm was featured in a segment of the History channel's "Modern Marvels" series highlighting "The Future of Food."

After a year, Aviad Sheinfeld said the process has become "a little less magical," but he still gets a kick out of it. Imagine what Hadassah and Yechezkel Gluzman might think.

"You put seed in a plug, and even a few days later when it pops out, I'm amazed," Aviad said.

"I do understand it, but I still don't believe how amazing it is that a plant grows out of this little, tiny seed and a few weeks later you have a head of lettuce or arugula."

Lead Photo: Wiseacre Farm owner Aviad Sheinfeld looks over some of the plants grown at his hydroponic farm in Glenview. Brian Hill | Staff Photographer

New Hydroponic Farm, Vittone Farms, Is Welcomed To The Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce With Ribbon Cutting

May 12, 2021

Vittone Farms, Inc., a true-agricultural start-up that uses hydroponic farming to grow thousands of plants a month and host of the Smith Mountain Lake (SML) Farmers Market, celebrated the ribbon cutting with the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. As an official member of the region’s growing business community, Vittone Farms looks forward to supporting the local and seasonal community.

10 local businesses attended the ribbon cutting and each attendee was provided with a hydroponic salad lunch created by a local Smith Mountain Lake restaurant, The Landing Restaurant, with salad ingredients provided by Vittone Farms.

The 40-foot farming container uses advanced vertical farming techniques using every inch of space for effective, indoor, all-season, all-weather growing and sits on land once known in the community for the Mayberry Diner & Drive-In. In 2007 the Diner burned down and for the past several years the prominent land remained vacant and unusable. Vittone Farms plans to make this land useful once again through the use of the farm and farmers market, making Vittone Farms a viable member of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. The SML Farmers Market features local growers and producers from within a 100-mile radius of its location in Moneta, VA and for the 2021 season, all members of 4-H, FFA, or any young farmer or producer under the age of 18 is eligible to receive free booth space at the up-and-coming farmers market.

The Vittone Farms team consists of Jeff Vittone, the founder of Vittone Farms and SML Famers Market and a U.S. Air Force Veteran, Jordan Gudely, a lifelong farmer who attained his Argibusiness Management Degree from North Carolina State University gained unique experience with organic fruit and vegetable production from the NC State sweet potato breeding program also has 1.5 years’ experience in different forms of farming works alongside part-time worker Kevin Painchaud, a local high school student, and future Horticultural Science Major at Virginia Tech. The Vittone Farms team is preparing for the farmer’s market season by growing a variety of plants and herbs inside the container farm and will continue to learn how to optimize the unique sustainable farming technique.

Vittone Farms offers a variety of produce derived from organic seeds and pesticide-free nutrients from its initial harvest including: Butter Lettuce, Romaine, Bibb Lettuce, Red and Green Salanova Sweet Crisp, Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, and Radish. Soon, Vittone Farms plans to include Microgreens and eggs from free-range, cage-free, organically fed chickens.

“What is great about hydroponic growing is that we can serve the local community with safe, nutritional food 365 days a year, additionally local farming removes the extended transportation of produce from the equation. When food is shipped over extended distances it loses its quality and nutritional value. We are grateful to be part of this beautiful community and welcomed by the local chamber of commerce. We are honored to make use of a once treasured land by not only growing on the land but inviting others to join us each weekend by selling their local meats, produce, or designs,” adds Jeff Vittone.

VIDEO: One Sure Way To Save Our Soil – Don’t Use Any

In the push for regenerative agriculture and soil rehabilitation, container farming has an important role to play.

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The idea behind regenerative agriculture isn’t new, but this year it is front and center as one of the key initiatives of the official Earth Day 2021 campaign: Restore Our Earth™.

According to the Earth Day organization, overfarming has caused soil capacity in the U.S. to decline dramatically, losing soil 10 times faster than it can be replenished. The result is that in many places, the land has as few as 60 harvests left before it is completely depleted. Unfortunately, with ownership of farms increasingly concentrated in the hands of industrial or foreign producers, the promise of short-term profits wins out over long-term solutions that would prioritize soil health.

What is regenerative agriculture?

Regenerative farming takes an opposite position. As a school of thought, it is a method of farming that actively fights soil degradation by restoring carbon to the soil, which has a double benefit of renewing the viability of the land while simultaneously removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. There are many different types of regenerative agriculture, here’s a helpful video to explain the main three:

But between destroying the soil and saving the soil, there’s a third option: not using any soil at all. This is the premise behind container farming.

Container farming to save soil.

Container farming is a subset of the indoor farming industry, which includes everything from greenhouses and warehouses to at-home tabletop setups. The advantage of container farming is the ability to create commercial-scale production within a small space the size of your standard 40-foot shipping container through vertical farming techniques. Inside the container, plants are protected from the external elements and nurtured using nutrient-enriched water, powerful red and blue light, and optimal temperatures.

Notice anything missing? Oh yeah–soil!

Container farming with hydroponics completely eliminates the need for soil to grow food, which is great news for the whole regenerative agriculture movement. Since regenerative farming is based on the idea of protecting soil, container farming is able to take the whole idea to the logical extreme by not using any soil–period.

Not only does container farming prevent the further degradation of soil, but it actually frees up land to be actively regenerated. At Freight Farms, our containers (each capable of growing an average of 2 acres of food) have already saved 700 acres of land… which’s equal to about 530 football fields!

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Additional sustainability benefits

Beyond regenerative agriculture, which is primarily focused on soil, container farming brings many additional sustainable benefits. The Greenery S is able to save:

• Water: 99% less water than is used in conventional agriculture.

• Food miles: we move the farms, not the food. Instead of trucking/shipping food from a centralized location, we put the farm as close to the final consumer as possible.

• Carbon emissions: in addition to reducing food miles, we’ve partnered with Arcadia to make it easy and effective for our farmers to get onto the renewable energy grid and make their carbon footprint just one-quarter of what it would be if they were farming using industrial farming methods.

Regenerating communities

While regenerative agriculture may start with soil, the implications on climate change, food access, and food security are clear. In the same way, container farming is also more than just improving the sustainability of our agriculture system. In addition to saving soil, land, water and reducing food miles and carbon emissions, container farming unlocks many important social gains:

• Independence: when we are not reliant on soil, land, and climate, we can make any place a farm. This makes it possible for us to create the distributed system we need to combat the harmful effects of industrial farming and centralized food systems.

• Equality: independence from soil and land also creates more food equality, since individuals and communities need fewer resources (money & land) to create commercial-scale farms.

• More farmers: Soil is complicated and nuanced, it takes huge amounts of experience and education to know how to do regenerative agriculture properly. With container farming, everyone can be a low-impact farmer.

• More varieties: Conventional agriculture is beholden to monocropping, which improves the unit economics of growing food but also increases the risk of crop failure, blight, and soil degradation. Container farming makes it possible to grow hundreds of plant varieties, introducing people to new types of plants and growing public perception of the diversity you can have with fresh greens. This can have an overall positive effect on market demands and help move the whole system away from relying on mono-cropping.

Learn more about the Earth Day Restore Our Earth™ campaign and check out how Freight Farms is helping support the regenerative farming movement with container farming!

Freight Farms

Empowering anyone to grow food anywhere. Freight Farms makes local food accessible in any climate with the Greenery™ container farm.

Freight Farms

April 23, 2014

Follow Earth Day Earth Day 2021 Sustainability Regenerative Agriculture Agriculture

US: NEBRASKA - The Bay, Beyond School Bells Launch Youth-Focused 'Freight Farm'

Apr 25, 2021

Luna Stephens

A 40-foot-long shipping container in the parking lot of The Bay will soon be filled with a whole lot of green.

In partnership with Beyond School Bells, The Bay is launching The Greenery, a self-contained hydroponic farm housed in a repurposed shipping container. Members of Beyond School Bells and The Bay gathered with local leaders Saturday to officially launch the program.

Much like The Bay’s other youth-focused programs, The Greenery is designed to allow students access to engaging, hands-on activities — in this case growing food.

“We are thrilled about the opportunity to be able to turn kids on to sustainable agriculture,” said Andrew Norman, executive director and co-founder of The Bay’s parent organization Rabble Mill. “A lot of the kids in our neighborhood have never seen anything like this; none of us have.”

The Greenery setup is designed by the Boston-based company Freight Farms. Beyond School Bells was able to purchase the unit through a partnership with the Ben Hormel Harris Foundation, said state Sen. Anna Wishart, the director of partnerships for Beyond School Bells. Several local companies and individuals donated their time to help get it up and running.

Through vertical planting that doesn’t require soil, the shipping container is able to house 13,000 plants at a time, or about as much food as a 2.5-acre farm. Throughout the container are thousands of red and blue LED lights that can be precisely controlled through the trailer’s high-tech programming to provide the perfect amount and color of light for each plant, said Doak Field, director of operations at Freight Farms.

The setup is also water-efficient, as the water that flows throughout the trailer is repumped through the cycle.

“Everything is just way more efficient than growing outside,” Field said. “You can get the exact science down to whatever you need to grow.”

 Field said the team hopes to start planting the container within the next two weeks and is planning to start with greens such as lettuces and kale, as well as herbs.

The program leaders plan to sell the food grown at the Greenery at local farmers’ markets or through weekly community-supported agriculture projects. They'll also source produce to local restaurants.

While many of the similar freight farm projects that have popped up across the country have been for-profit and run by adults, Lincoln’s will be one of only a few that are not-for-profit and youth-focused, Wishart said.

Beyond School Bells works statewide to provide after-school opportunities for students like The Greenery, she said.

“Our goal is to ensure that every kid, no matter where they grow up in Nebraska, has access to quality out-of-school programming and this freight farm is absolutely an example of that,” she said.

The project will offer an opportunity for students to learn a variety of skills, Wishart said, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln honor students will also play a role in mentoring younger students working on the project.

“This also creates an incredible platform for youth to learn entrepreneurship and about sustainable, high-tech agriculture and future careers in that space,” Wishart said.

The Greenery project is part of a series of environmental-focused projects across the state that Beyond School Bells is working on, the organization's network lead Jeff Cole said.

“This will be the crown jewel,” he said. “But we're already starting to do investments in rural Nebraska around outdoor classrooms, environmental education, and a series of other things across the state.”

Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said she sees the project as an example of innovative, environmentally friendly solutions that can help move the city forward.

“This is such a wonderful demonstration of how we can take better care of the Earth, create greater value for everyone in our community and hand something on to the next generation, something that they can have a leadership role in,” Gaylor Baird said.

Lead Photo: Jeff Cole of Beyond School Bells talks to visitors about the Greenery, a 40-foot-long shipping container that will operate as a high-tech hydroponic farm at The Bay. The container has space to vertically grow over 13,000 plants — the equivalent of a 2.5-acre farm. FRANCIS GARDLER, Journal Star

VIDEO: Freight Farms - Greenery Tour Recording

 Below we've included the entire recording along with additional resources to help jump start your farming project. 

If you have any unanswered questions or would like to discuss your individual project, please reach out to your Account Executive  rick@freightfarms.com, and they will be able to assist you

Greenery Tour Recording

Have a second to share your thoughts?

We'd love to hear your feedback on how you think the event went!

Use the button below to complete a brief survey. 

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Additional Resources Provided During the Event:

Read about our training options and support.

Take a deep dive on LED lights for growing plants.

Learn more farmhand’s capabilities.

Get more ideas and guidance about how to find customers here.

Learn more about the nutrients used to grow strong plants inside the Greenery.

Freight Farms, 46 Plympton St, Boston, MA 02118, US, 877-687-4326

Mario Saw Container Farming As A Chance To Become His Own Boss

Mario from New Age Provisions Farms left his 9-5 to start his own container farming company. It hasn’t always been easy, but Mario loves his new independent lifestyle.

The team with Freight Farms recently sat down for a chat with what they call an amazing Freight Farmer–Mario Vitalis! Mario’s journey to start farming wasn’t the smoothest, but Mario applied his incredible work effort, perseverance, and general positive attitude towards launching New Age Provisions Farms in August 2020. All the hard work paid off–Mario is already expecting to receive his second Greenery container farm in December 2020!

Be Your Own Boss
Before August, Mario had no experience with farming. He spent the majority of his professional life in the business and corporate world, getting his first taste of freedom when he decided to go into real estate as a side business. That side business showed Mario the huge potential that he could have as an entrepreneur. It was in an effort to expand his real estate business by monetizing empty lots that Mario first stumbled upon container farming.

Originally, Mario was thinking of using the lots for container homes, but the regulations around residential projects were far too complicated. With agriculture, however, Mario found that there was a much greater opportunity. Today, Mario has left his corporate job to pursue farming and real estate full time and he loves it.

“Farming allows me to be my own boss. One thing I’ve always wanted to do is own a business. That is what will set you apart from being a thousandaire to a millionaire.”

In order to understand the indoor farming industry better, Mario enrolled in an online course of hydroponics which gave him the basics of the farming process. He then started doing some research about the available technology, eventually choosing the Freight Farms Greenery as the container farm that was the easiest to use and produced the greatest yields. Mario signed a purchase agreement the same day that he saw the Greenery, knowing that it was the right technology for his plans. 

But before he could start, Mario had to overcome a few hurdles.

Container Farm Financing
The first was financing. In August 2019, Mario applied to the USDA Farm Service Agency for a $50,000 loan to put down a deposit for the Greenery, with plans to supplement the rest with a private loan. In spite of providing the Agency with a thorough and well-reasoned business plan and yield projection, he was informed that the application was ‘incomplete’, and in December 2019 was denied without any explanation. Mario was shocked–in his eyes, the application had been bulletproof. 

It was only after a great deal of prodding that Mario was able to get some clarity into his denial. Due to a lack of experience with hydroponic container farming, the FSA had re-run all of Mario’s calculations within the scope of traditional linear farming and determined that he could not possibly reach the yields–and therefore the profit that he was projecting. This, plus Mario’s lack of farming experience earned him a denial. 

Initially, Mario was devastated. When he turned to his family for support, he received some pivotal words of wisdom from his grandfather: “They don’t want you to own the land. They want you to work the land.” Mario’s grandfather was referring to the huge dearth of Black farmers in America–only 2% of the national farming population–which is a direct result of long-standing discrimination within organizations like the USDA that makes it difficult for minority farmers to receive crucial financing. So Mario decided to fight. 

The first step was to appeal the decision. Mario wrote a letter to the USDA requesting an appeal, which the USDA denied by backing the original decision. Mario then appealed again, and this time he went to court against the USDA FSA. In court, Freight Farms was able to support all of Mario’s initial claims about the Greenery’s yield potential, allowing Mario to prove without a doubt that his farm was the right candidate for the loan. The judge ruled in Mario’s favor and shortly thereafter, he received a call from the FSA with an offer for the original $50,000 loan. Mario looked at it all and said:  
 
“I don’t want $50,000… I want $250,000. I want you to pay for the container that I have–plus buy me a new container.”

Farm Site & Zoning
With the fight with the USDA behind him and the money in his pocket, Mario turned his attention into getting his business started. This is where he encountered his next hurdle: zoning. Mario initially intended to put his farms on a property he owned, but then found out that the land was zoned residential. As a piece of agricultural machinery, Mario would need to secure a variance (i.e. an exception) from the municipality–a long and expensive process. This time, instead of fighting, Mario turned his resourcefulness towards his personal network. He reconnected with a friend from high school who owned a used car lot and offered it as a place for Mario to keep his farm. 
 
Farm Business Plan & Customers
Unfortunately, Mario’s trials were not quite over. Just as Mario was finalizing all of his financing and zoning, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, effectively turning Mario’s original business plan on its head. Mario had originally planned to sell to restaurants in the area, but as the local establishments shuttered, he was forced to pivot quickly. He found his footing with an online marketplace called Market Wagon, which aggregates dozens of local farmers and craftsmen on one platform. For the shopper, it’s a simple way to shop from multiple small local businesses on one platform–for the businesses it’s great exposure and easy logistics. 

“The Greenery allows you more flexibility, more longevity…it’s fresher, it looks great… and it tastes great! It hits all five senses.”

Since Mario’s first harvest in August, Market Wagon has brought a steady stream of success. In using the platform, he’s been able to fine tune his crop menu to the best sellers (lettuce and basil) and to find the right price point. He’s also able to leverage the Greenery to his advantage, reacting faster to market changes than his competitors. The most recent example was a November 2020 outbreak of E.coli in the romaine lettuce supply–within a week Mario already had romaine seedlings in production.

Plus, the shoppers love Mario’s greens, recognizing it as a superior product that’s worth a higher price point.
 
“You grow art…
…if [customers] want regular vegetables, [they] can go to a store. What you’re growing here is artisan.”

Hydroponic Cannabis
Mario also grows a variety of experimental crops, including tomatoes, strawberries, and… cannabis! In 2020, Mario became the first Freight Farmer to grow commercial cannabis in our container farms. His growing operations are strictly monitored in accordance with the 2018 Farm Bill, which mandates that his plants have a THC level at or below 0.3%. Mario uses clones to ensure he only gets female (flowering) plants, which grow about 12 inches high at maturity and produce 7-10 grams of flower each. 

While the cannabis market is still young in Indianapolis, Mario sees it as a huge business potential as medical and recreational marijuana becomes more common. Although he’s only just starting to experiment with the cannabis crop, he’s excited to use the Greenery’s intricate climate control settings to adjust the taste, smell, color, and potency. He believes this will allow him to stand out in the market as a premium product that is fresher and completely safe from pesticide exposure.

Connecting the past with the future
While there have been challenges along the way, Mario loves his new Freight Farmer lifestyle. His container is a second home–complete with armchairs and a TV–and a symbol of his independence and success in overcoming the odds. With personal mantras like “never give up”, “live life to the fullest”, and “against all odds”, Mario is not only a great inspiration for the future, but also a testimony about how we can overcome our past.  
 
“I’ve always known the city life… but there’s always been a desire to get back to, and discover, my roots.”

Mario speaks candidly about a life and family history full of adversity. He is able to trace his family lineage all the way back to West Africa: his great-great-grandparents were Southern slaves, his great-grandparents were sharecroppers who escaped the south in the 1930s to come to San Francisco. So, in many ways, farming has allowed Mario to reconnect with his past, and to redefine what it means to be a Black farmer for his young daughters and other members of this community. 

“Having this type of farm allows me to connect to a history that I have forgotten. I am a descendent of the slaves… this farm enables me to... get back to the type of living where our people once lived off the land.”

As Mario awaits the arrival of his second farm, he’s beyond excited about growing his business. Not only does he see it as a crucial step in developing his own business, but he wants to maximize his impact in his community. With few grocery stores and little access to fresh food, Mario’s neighborhood is one of many food deserts that exist in cities around the country. He hopes to help change the community from within with an infusion of healthy and affordable produce. You can follow along with Mario through his website, Facebook, and Instagram.

For more information:
www.freightfarms.com

LIVE Virtual Tour - Inside the Greenery Container Farm with Freight Farms' Lead Designer - Thurs, Sept 10, 2020 - 4:30 PM EST

Take a Virtual Tour of the Freight Farms Greenery™

Explore the technology behind our Greenery container farm that allows farmers to grow food anywhere in the world!

Farm expert Derek will explain the ins and outs of the Greenery using a live video stream inside the farm. He’ll cover the basics of controlled environment agriculture, hydroponics, vertical farming, and how all those work together inside the Greenery to create the perfect conditions for crop growth regardless of geographic location.

To Register For This Free Zoom Virtual Live Tour

Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 4:30 PM

Please Click Here

IDTechEx Identifies Innovative Companies Changing The Face of Vertical Farming

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IDTechEx 

Sep 02, 2020

BOSTON, Sept. 2, 2020,/PRNewswire/ -- Vertical farming, the practice of growing crops indoors under tightly controlled conditions, is continuing to expand rapidly. By using LED lighting tailored to the exact needs of the crop, alongside advanced hydroponic growing systems, and growing crops in vertically stacked trays, vertical farms can achieve yields hundreds of times higher than the same area of traditional farmland.

Investors and entrepreneurs alike are excited about the potential of vertical farming to revolutionize the global food system and some vertical farming companies have raised dizzying amounts of money. Plenty, a San Francisco-based start-up, and the most well-funded vertical farm, has raised $401 million in funding, with backers including SoftBank, Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Fellow US start-ups AeroFarms and Bowery Farming are not far behind, with $238 million and $167.5 million in funding, respectively.

While there has been much attention on these companies and their exploits, there are dozens of other companies in the industry developing their own approaches to vertical farming. Here, we explore some of the most innovative vertical farming start-ups, based on the recent IDTechEx report, "Vertical Farming 2020-2030".

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Freight Farms

Freight Farms is a Boston-based vertical farming company that manufactures "container farms", vertical farming systems installed into 40' mobile containers. Alongside its container farms, Freight Farms provides the farmhand software, a hydroponic farm management, and automation platform that also connects users with other Freight Farms customers. Container farms have many advantages - they are easy to transport, compact, and relatively cheap to set up in comparison to other vertical farming systems. Container farms are often turnkey systems, too, meaning that they require much less experience and expertise to operate than either a factory-scale vertical farm or indeed a traditional farm.

Freight Farms recently released its most advanced container farming system, the Greenery, which it believes is the most advanced container farming system in the world. The Greenery is a turnkey system that uses an array of sensors to continuously monitor the growing conditions inside the farm, with the farmhand software automatically making adjustments and planning watering cycles in order to provide the optimum environment for growing crops and allowing users to control their Greenery remotely from a smartphone.

80 Acres – Collaboration, Food Experience

Despite their potential, many vertical farming start-ups have struggled over the years with the labor costs and power requirements for running a high-tech indoor farm. This has often forced producers to sell their crops at a much higher price than conventionally farmed leafy greens. Additionally, many founders of vertical farming companies have little experience in the food industry and can struggle with the day-to-day realities of running a food production industry.

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80 Acres is an Ohio-based vertical farming start-up aiming to overcome these challenges by constructing the world's first fully automated indoor farm. The company was founded in November 2015 by Tisha Livingston and Mike Zelkind, who between them have over 50 years' experience in the food industry. Collaboration is also important to 80 Acres. The company believes that vertical farming is a very multidisciplinary field, requiring collaboration between partners who are experts in their own discipline. Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) developed the LEDs used in the facility and Dutch greenhouse automation company Priva developed the control and fertigation systems, with 80 Acres using its experience in food to bring the system together and integrate the technology.

The company currently operates a 75,000 square foot facility in Hamilton, a suburb of Cincinnati, which is set to expand to 150,000 square feet in summer 2020 following a $40 million investment from Virgo Investment Group. When completed, 80 Acres claims this facility will be the world's first fully automated indoor farm. The farm will be automated from seeding to growing to harvesting, using robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and around-the-clock monitoring sensors and control systems to optimize every aspect of growing produce indoors.

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Jones Food Company

Jones Food Company is a British vertical farming start-up that operates Europe's largest vertical farm out of a warehouse in Scunthorpe, UK. It was founded in 2016 by James Lloyd-Jones and Paul Challinor, who wanted to build the largest vertical farming facility that they could in order to help overcome some of the operational problems plaguing the industry and bring vertical farming to the mainstream. After visiting several vertical farms in Japan, they decide that the only way to make vertical farming a success is to focus on scale and automation.

Jones Food Company focuses on maximizing automation and robotics in their facility to minimize operating costs, with its facility being modeled on a car factory, with the growing process resembling a production line - over the 25-day growing period, plants move from one end of the facility to another. Much of the work is done by machines, helping to reduce labor costs. Harvesting is carried out by bespoke machines and the heavy lifting is performed by a robot called Frank. This focus on automation means that only six employees are required to operate the Scunthorpe facility.

Jones Food Company has partnered with UK online grocery company Ocado, which currently owns about 70% of the business. Through this partnership, Jones Food Company is aiming to set up vertical farms next to Ocado's grocery depots, meaning that fresh produce could be delivered to shoppers within an hour of being picked.

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Infarm

Infarm is a Berlin-based start-up that sells modular, hydroponic vertical farms for growing leafy greens and herbs in supermarkets, schools, and offices. A single two-square meter unit can grow 8,000 plants in a year, with the company claiming its farms use 95% less water than soil-based farms, take up 99.5% less space, use zero chemical pesticides, need 90% less transportation, and use 75% less fertilizer.

Infarm has partnered with several major supermarkets across Europe, where it has currently deployed over 500 farms in stores and distribution centers. The company is also beginning to expand in the USA, having recently partnered with Kroger to trial its indoor farms in two QFC stores in Seattle. In the UK, it has partnered with supermarket chain Marks & Spencer, which is trialing in-store urban farming in seven locations in London, growing Italian basil, Greek basil, Bordeaux basil, mint, mountain coriander, thyme, and curly parsley.

The company's business model is based around an "agriculture-as-a-service" model. The modular farms remain the property of Infarm, which receives income per harvested plant. Infarm then coordinates with clients such as retailers and takes care of the farm including installation, cultivation, harvesting, and maintenance. Aside from the regular visits by service personnel to plant new plants, the farms are controlled remotely. This modular, data-driven, and distributed approach — a combination of big data, IoT, and cloud analytics — sets Infarm apart from competitors. From a price point, Infarm is attractive for supermarkets, which get a better product at the same price. In addition, the plants, especially herbs, are harvested fresh, preserving color, smell, flavor, and nutrients.

For more information about the vertical farming industry and the innovative companies operating within the space, please see the recent IDTechEx report, "Vertical Farming 2020-2030", www.IDTechEx.com/VertFarm or for the full portfolio of related research available from IDTechEx please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research.

IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Consultancy, and Event products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information on IDTechEx Research and Consultancy, contact research@IDTechEx.com or visit www.IDTechEx.com.

Freight Farms in Montrose Colorado - Eatin' Greens Farm - Locally Grown Produce

The deserts of the west meet the Rocky Mountains, blocking any rainfall that might come their way. ⁠⠀

Instead, the town relies on snowmelt to irrigate their valley so they can grow beautiful crops of corn, alfalfa, peaches, apricots and apples, and more.⁠⠀

But for the past 2 years, the area has been experiencing a drought and the availability of water for next year depends entirely on the amount of snowfall the mountains receive this winter.⁠⠀

“These cycles certainly make my wife and I appreciate the Freight Farm," says Steve Arnold of @eatingreensfarm. “We have been container farming for 3 years now and we were in agriculture in this area since 1970, so we have been through a few cycles of wet and dry years. We are able to grow consistently all year long no matter what the weather is like. We only use about 3 or 4 gallons of water a day, so drought or no drought we aren’t affected.”⁠⠀

Boys And Girls Clubs of Metro South Awarded Food Security Infrastructure Grant

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South was awarded a grant of $128,960 by the Baker-Polito Administration in partnership with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of the commonwealth’s $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program on Aug. 18.

In a concerted effort to address food insecurities in their service area, BGCMS will be using the grant to purchase and operate a Freight Farms Greenery container farm on their Camp Riverside property located at 388 Harvey St., Taunton. The Greenery is a fully functioning, self-contained hydroponic farm housed in a shipping container that allows for plants to grow vertically indoors year-round without soil or direct sunlight. The Greenery will be able to support over 13,000 plants at once.

BGCMS intends to use this produce to support their Kids Café Healthy Meals program which provides hot, healthy dinners to every child who attends the Brockton and Taunton Clubhouse each weeknight. The clubs’ Kids Café program feeds more than 400 youth per day and serves more than 100,000 healthy meals annually. In addition to meal service, the clubs will utilize the Greenery to teach members about nutrition, agriculture and how to keep eating healthy foods at home.

“Our goal is to also build upon existing partnerships with local community organizations and other nonprofits that are working to tackle food insecurity — like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and food pantries in our region — to support their efforts to feed the hungry and feed them nutritious food,” said Monica Lombardo, vice president of advancement at Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South.

In March, BGCMS jumped into action to adapt its Kids Café meals program into an open grab and go dinner program for youth from 0 to 18 years old in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 18, meals have been served in a socially distanced fashion at both the Brockton and Taunton Clubhouses every weeknight between 4:30 and 6 p.m. The community response to the grab and go meals program inspired BGCMS to think critically about the clubs’ ongoing role in supporting food security in the region as its afterschool, weekend and summer programs are key social supports for economically vulnerable families.

“Increasing access to fresh, local food is critical to ensure the health and wellbeing of all commonwealth families,” said Gov. Charlie Baker about the grants being offered. “Through this grant program, we are helping residents and businesses who’ve been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while making investments in building a strong and equitable local food system for Massachusetts that is prepared for the future.”

To support BGCMS and their mission or to learn more about their Kids Café healthy meals program, visit https://bgcmetrosouth.org.

Posted Aug 25, 2020 at 4:44 PM

Updated Aug 25, 2020 at 4:44 PM

Join Farm Expert Derek As He Live Streams From Inside The Freight Farms Greenery - August 19, 2020 - 12 Noon EST

Come Check Out The Greenery™

Take a deep dive into the basics of controlled environment agriculture, hydroponics, and vertical farming...all from the comfort of your own home! 

Joining is simple – register for free below. 

RSVP

When

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

12:00 - 12:45 PM EST

Where

Zoom Video 

Click here to reserve your spot!

US: MINNESOTA: North Market Installs Onsite Vertical Farm

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Source: North Market

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07.28.2020

By Emily Park

MINNEAPOLIS – Black-owned and operated by the nonprofit organization Pillsbury United Communities (PUC), the grocery store North Market has installed a hydroponic vertical container farm from Freight Farms onsite.  

Built-in an upcycled shipping container and controlled by a data-driven IoT platform called farmhand, the 320-square-foot farm is located in the retailer’s parking lot.  

Regardless of the season, it will provide the market’s community with fresh produce (all pesticide- and herbicide-free) year-round. Growing at commercial volume, the farm uses less than 5 gallons of water a day. 

North Market will start by harvesting 11 flavorful crops: three varieties of mini compact romaine lettuces, green oakleaf, basil, Thai basil, rosemary, thyme, lemon balm, sage, and mint.  

“At Pillsbury United Communities, our mission is to co-create enduring change toward a just society in which every person has personal, social, and economic power,” said Kim Pepper, chief engagement officer of PUC. “The closed-loop food ecosystem we have built around North Market is one of the ways we are working to realize this vision. Greens grown onsite in the Freight Farm are sold at North Market ensuring community access to fresh, affordable, local produce year-round. Produce that doesn’t sell is rescued, prepared, and served at our free community café." 

Some of the added benefits of the onsite vertical farm include: 

• Elimination of food miles: the crops only travel steps from the parking lot to the store  

• Consistent reliability: store can produce its own line of crops for shoppers, with year-round consistency regardless of the weather or changing climate conditions in Minneapolis  

• Quality and freshness: by being grown hyper-locally (in this case, right onsite), produce stays fresh for far longer, reducing food waste for both the store and consumers 

• Cost reduction: in removing distribution costs from the equation, PUC is able to pass savings on to the consumer  

• Traceability & safety: the farm’s integrated IoT platform, farmhand, enables complete traceability of crops from seed to harvest 

North Market also sells produce from the PUC’s other soil-based farms in the city. To get those crops to the store, bicycle couriers pick up freshly harvested food from PUC’s Southside gardens and deliver them to North Market to be sold. Completing the cycle, they also pick up surplus food and bring it back to the Southside to be distributed in community delivery meal programs. The remaining food is composted back at the Southside gardens. 

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Welcome To Robbinsville, NJ–Home of The First Municipal Freight Farm!

A One-of-a-Kind Town Farm

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Since Freight Farms sold its first farms in 2013, we have had farmers join our community from all over the world, with a range of backgrounds and business models. Yet, the Robbinsville Farm stands out from all of them because it is the first and only Freight Farm owned by a whole town.

That’s right! The Robbinsville Township of New Jersey came together to bring the Leafy Green Machine™ (the fore-bearer of our current Greenery™) to their town, and the farm operations and distribution has remained a town activity ever since. 

We spoke with farm coordinator, Hope Cahill, about her role at the one-of-a-kind Robbinsville farm and how the project gets the entire community–from student to senior citizen–involved.

The Robbinsville Farm on location at the Senior Center.
Image | Robbinsville Hydroponic Farm on Facebook

The town hydroponic farm

A fresh take on a public service.

When the Robbinsville Farm arrived at the local Senior Center in November 2017, Robbinsville became the first municipality in New Jersey (and in the world!) to install a vertical hydroponic Freight Farm. For the town, it was about more than bringing healthy and local food to the community. Robbinsville quickly made their Freight Farm a key piece in education, volunteer, and food access initiatives. The farm’s location on site at the Senior Center was no coincidence either, with a large part of the harvest dedicated to the center’s dining operations and the local chapter of Meals on Wheels.

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The initiative was spearheaded by the Robbinsville mayor, Dave Fried, who–upon seeing a similar type of container farm–sent the Robbinsville Recreation Manager a message saying ‘I would love this for the township. Let’s figure out how to do this’. After a long research phase, the town found Freight Farms. For the town, Freight Farms was the perfect choice since they were able to get everything they needed to run the farm–from purchase to supplies, to training, to customer service–in one. To this day, Mayor Dave is one of the farm’s staunchest supporters.

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Nearly three years after its installation, the Robbinsville Farm is still serving its community faithfully. The produce goes directly to the seniors at the Robbinsville Senior Center, Meals on Wheels, and the food bank at Mercer Street Friends (a New Jersey non-profit that offers school and employment opportunities and hunger relief programs). In this way, Robbinsville is able to improve food security, increase access to fresh food, and reduce the risk of obesity and obesity-related diseases.

Hope explains the additional value of having a farm directly in Robbinsville

“Because we are distributing so local, we are able to reduce “food miles” that are required to transport nutritious food...Many who volunteer say how relaxing it is therefore we are also improving mental health and promoting relaxation. We also offer field trips to schools, businesses and families to educate people about healthy eating, sustainable agriculture and [hydroponics].”

Town-owned, community-operated

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Farm Coordinator, Hope Cahill

It takes a village to raise a farm.

With so many important outlets for the produce, one challenge for Robbinsville was to ensure the farm ran smoothly while also engaging as many community members as possible. For that, Robbinsville hired Hope to manage the operations and the large group of volunteers that run the farm. Unlike many of our farmers for whom hydroponics is their first foray into agriculture, Hope came to the Freight Farm a seasoned expert. 

While attending a vocational high school, Hope took courses in Horticulture and Landscape Management which exposed her to a range of plant-related topics, with everything from floral design and landscaping, to pest and greenhouse management. With this experience, she was able to join the Future Farmers of America after graduating; In the years following high school, Hope got certifications from Rutgers University in fields like beekeeping, landscape management, and aquaponics. During that time she served as the New Jersey FFA State Reporter and then State President, which gave her the opportunity to travel the whole state teaching students the importance of agriculture. All this combined experience made her eager to join the Robbinsville Farm team, seeing it as a perfect way to combine her passion for agriculture with her desire to teach and help fight hunger in the local community.

While Hope is the mastermind behind the farm operations, it is the volunteers who really give the farm program life, and capture the whole scope of the Robbinsville community. Volunteers include the seniors who attend the senior center, Meals-on-Wheels recipients, students–and anyone else with the interest and willingness to learn more about hydroponics.

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Together, Hope and the volunteers grow a variety of lettuces, such as Butterhead, Bibb, Red and Green Leaf Romaine, Summer Crisp, Oakleaf, Lollo Rossa, and the occasional herbs. The community reaction? They love it.

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Hope explains how she manages her large group of volunteers

“Monday and Tuesday are Harvest and transplant days. Wednesday’s, we seed, rotate the towers and do farm maintenance such as cleaning and mixing fertilizers...As Farm coordinator I oversee everything that goes on in the farm and schedule the volunteers. Every Monday I send out the following weeks farm tasks listing jobs to be done and time slots. Then the volunteers will sign up and I will schedule them in.” 

COVID-19 had an obvious impact on the volunteer workforce that drives the Robbinsville farm. When the virus reached New Jersey, only Robbinsville Township paid staff were able to run the farm for the purposes of health and safety. This led Hope and her coworkers to change their operations to best meet the needs of a community in crisis. A simple change, like eliminating a Spring Harvest mix, helped them maximize their weekly harvest and reduce time spent in the small space farm.

In spite of all this, Hope believes that the volunteer program will bounce back after the pandemic thanks to the hard work she and her team have done to get the whole community invested in the farm’s success over the years.

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Get to know Hope as she shows us how she plants seeds at the Robbinsville farm!

Interested in starting a farm in your town? Get in touch.

VIDEO: New England Living: The Future of Farming With Freight Farms

Farming under a city overpass? As the world’s leading manufacturer of container farming technology, Boston-based Freight Farms is changing the way the world grows its food.

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See You Next Week? Take A Virtual Tour of The Greenery™ With Us! July 16, 2020 - 4:30 PM EST

Come Check Out The Greenery™ 

Explore the Freight Farms Greenery™ alongside farm expert Derek, where you'll learn about the basics of controlled environment agriculture, hydroponics, and vertical farming...from the comfort of your own home!

Joining is simple – register for free below. 

RSVP

When

Thursday, July 16th, 2020

4:30-5:15 PM EST

Where

Zoom Video

Click Here To Reserve Your Spot!

Podcast Agency FullCast Launches Vertical Farming Podcast with David Farquhar of Intelligent Growth Solutions

MINNEAPOLIS, May 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — In the inaugural interview of the Vertical Farming Podcast, David Farquhar, CEO of Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), says Covid-19 has prompted a spike in interest in vertical farming, as retailers and governments scramble to improve supply chain resilience and lower their reliance on imported food.

The vertical farming industry must ‘take a hard look at itself’ before it fulfills its promise of reliable, quality food, produced affordably and sustainably, says one of its leading figures.

Vertical Farming Podcast produced by FullCast

“But it will be fascinating to see what changes last on the back of this pandemic,” he says. “To what degree are we willing to invest to prepare ourselves to survive another one? We’re working with a lot of governments to think how this might happen.

“Yes, there are huge opportunities, but let’s be realistic. Vertical farming and indoor agriculture are young; making them work is a marathon task. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.”

“In three decades in the tech sector, I’ve never seen anything that’s attracted so much interest nor created so much misinformation.”

“A lot of people are telling a lot of lies. The industry must grow up. Many commentators and participants within the industry feel the same.”

A former British Army officer, Farquhar announced on the podcast that he’s committing the company to openly publish all its data – energy consumption, water usage and nutrient utilization – from its ‘in a box’ vertical farming systems, in a bid to demonstrate the industry-wide honesty and transparency that he believes is so sorely needed.

Headquartered in Scotland, IGS is currently working with commercial and government groups across Australasia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and North America. Farquhar was interviewed for the first episode of Vertical Farming Podcast, a new show produced by FullCast and hosted by Harry Duran. Harry has launched VFP to engage with the leaders, founders, and visionaries of the evolving vertical farming industry, to bring their insights and knowledge to a wider audience.

Farquhar kicks off a line-up of guests that includes Agritecture’s Henry Gordon-Smith, Freight Farms Co-Founder & COO Jon Friedman, and AgTech journalist Louisa Burwood-Taylor of AgFunderNews.

Listeners are invited to subscribe today at: https://verticalfarmingpodcast.com

Contact InformationCompany: FullCast
Contact Name: Harry Duran
Email: harry@verticalfarmingpodcast.com
Phone: +1-323-813-6570
Address: 340 S Lemon Ave #5557 Walnut, CA 91789
Website: https://verticalfarmingpodcast.com

Source: PRNewsire

Farming Fuels A Holistic Approach to End Homelessness at Lotus House

Growing fresh food helps Lotus House residents find their fresh start

At Freight Farms we believe that everyone should be able to participate in the joy of eating fresh, healthy foods regardless of location, climate, or socioeconomic background. Our global Freight Farmer network makes this mission a reality–and none more so than the non-profit organizations that use hydroponic container farms to create meaningful and long-lasting change in their communities.  

Today we’re highlighting just one organization: Lotus House in Miami, Florida. Lotus House is what many of us would call a “homeless shelter”, but the term fails to capture the sheer extent of their services. Lotus House refers to itself as a “holistic residential facility and resource center for women and children experiencing homelessness”. The difference is significant. Instead of focusing on providing bare minimum resources–a hot meal, a bed, a shower–Lotus House tries to address the initial cause of homelessness, with the intent of getting women and their families back on their feet. Their services provide up to 500 women and children residents with daycare, employment education, and arts programs, beauty salon, yoga and meditation, and much more.

Meet Farmer Jackie

To learn more about the incredible things happening at Lotus House, we connected with Jackie Roth. Jackie is the ideal person to talk to about the role of farming within the center’s greater holistic model:

“As Project Coordinator, I manage all aspects of the Farm in addition to other specialty health/research projects at the shelter. I lead sessions inside the Farm every day, as well as the cooking demonstrations and outdoor garden work, and oversee all Farm maintenance and volunteers. So I’m basically the resident farmer, and guests know me as such.”

Hear from Jackie and Constance (Lotus House Founder and Director) when you download webinar, recorded on April 30th 2020. Download here.

Good nutrition as a pathway to wellness

For Jackie, Lotus House’s farm is part of a much larger conversation about the essential role health and wellness play in building resiliency and ending the cycle of poverty:

 “Our mission is to transform the trauma of homelessness into a window of opportunity, where guests can heal old wounds and build resilience for a brighter future. Rather than provide the temporary support of a bed and hot meal, we work to holistically end the cycle of poverty and abuse that too often leads women and families to our shelter. Health and wellness are essential to this healing, and food and nutrition are essential to that health and wellness. It truly takes a village and lots of moving parts to achieve this multidisciplinary vision, and the food and nutrition education component is no exception.”

The Lotus House farm works in tandem with the Culinary Center, where over 500 residents and staff members are served three free meals a day. The farm is mostly used to grow a variety of lettuces that go into the Center’s salad bar, along with other specialty greens, root vegetables, and edible flowers. For Lotus House, the Greenery is the perfect intersection of food, nutrition, and education, and it has been deployed accordingly. 

“We aim to serve largely plant-based foods and healthful meals that nourish the healing and developing minds and bodies of those who live here. The Culinary Center is home to one of our paid internship programs for guests where they earn their Food Handler’s certification, participate in the inner workings of a commercial kitchen, and hopefully create new career opportunities for themselves in a city with such a prominent hospitality and entertainment industry.”

Furthermore, the farm and the center have a symbiotic relationship. Jackie explains the benefit of the farm for Lotus House, and the greater community: 

“Our Farm saves us thousands of dollars a year on produce costs; in addition, we work closely with local nonprofits and businesses who donate reclaimed food that would otherwise be thrown away. And when we have more food than we need for ourselves, we give it back as groceries for people in the neighborhood - because the community’s health is so tightly linked to our own. So there’s lots of internal and external coordination involved in sustaining our own food source, reducing food waste, and bringing real nutrition to the people who need it most.”

Achieving good nutrition through education

Beyond the dining program, the farm serves an important role in educating and engaging many of the organization’s youngest residents (ages 3-12) on weekdays after school. Jackie, who oversees all the in-farm programming overviews the day-to-day:

“The Farm is the home for an innovative after-school program where children witness the seed-to-harvest life cycle and farm-to-table growing. We also do cooking demonstrations where kids can see different hands-on ways to use their vegetables and learn basic kitchen skills like chopping, mixing, blending, etc.”

Lotus House’s education farming program doubles as a mini-workforce. During their afternoon sessions, younger kids help Jackie plant seeds and harvest mature plants for delivery to the Culinary Center, where they will be served the very next day. Beyond that, older kids interested in the farm help Jackie with the more detail-oriented tasks, like transplanting and maintenance. 

But the farming program doesn’t end there! As with everything Lotus House does, the farming program has a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. In addition to the Greenery, the center has built out a general nutrition and gardening presence at the shelter. The building features an outdoor rooftop garden where the children grow basil, cilantro, beets, mint, broccoli and strawberry sprouts–started in the Greenery–in the soil and learn how to compost waste from the Greenery operations (grow plus, leaves, etc.).

The center runs also smaller events and initiatives about nutrition, such as the ‘Farm Stand’ where the Lotus House staff highlight a Farmer of the Week, share what’s growing, provide samples, and give out nutrition-themed activity sheets. 

Changing habits to change lives

Ultimately, the goal of the Lotus House Farm program is to encourage residents to eat more fruits and vegetables by connecting them to their food source. 

“With the Farm, we have a really unique opportunity to give guests a transparent lens into how food grows, from seed to plate, and get them excited about eating something cultivated in this high-tech environment. The approach is not to lecture people on what’s good for you or what’s bad for you, but to show them how cool plants are and all the different ways you can enjoy them.”

The opportunity to work with kids from a young age is particularly important in this goal. “It’s best to intervene young so they can build healthy habits early on, and hopefully share what they learned with mom to influence her attitudes and habits...If we can play even a small part in ...getting children excited about eating fruits and vegetables, exposing them to something they’ve never eaten before, or bringing moms and kids together to watch their plants grow and prepare a healthy snack, then it’s a worthy battle.” 

Inspiring future farmers

With robust educational programs established and successful, Jackie turned her focus for 2020 on two new initiatives: creating a wider volunteer program and rolling out a hydroponic farming job training program for teens and adults. 

The volunteer program sought to engage people all over Miami with the center and the farm, based on their availability: “The volunteers are integral to maintaining a beneficial student-teacher ratio, implementing therapeutic teaching techniques, and ensuring all necessary maintenance work is completed and our Farm stays hyper-clean.”

The job training program would teach residents basic farming skills before they started paid jobs with local container farming community partners, like fellow Freight Farmers at Hammock Greens: “We want every abled person in our shelter to come out with a good paying job, and even with the kids and volunteers there was often lingering Farm work, and we had lots of adults who expressed interest in learning more about gardening.” 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 brought both programs to a screeching halt just as they were gaining momentum: volunteers stopped coming in and partnering businesses closed their doors. Jackie remains hopeful, however, making sure that post-COVID, the programs are still viable.

These new programs are not the only ones that had to be re-thought in today’s coronavirus reality. As Lotus House works to protect its residents, Jackie is aware of how the farm is at the center of two competing forces:

“On the one hand, we want to exercise the utmost caution in every regard due to the compact interior of the Farm and the nature of growing fresh, uncooked food for hundreds of people when there are still so many unknowns about this virus and its transmission. But on the other hand, supply chains are so uncertain right now and we are acutely reminded of the value of being able to produce our own food. And, all the kids are off school with extra time on their hands and a deep desire for some semblance of fun and normalcy.” 

Luckily, Jackie and her helpers were well-prepared to address public health and safety in the farm. Well before the coronavirus reared its ugly head, Jackie implemented rigorous cleanliness practices to avoid contamination like wearing gloves, sanitizing multiple times daily, “dabbing” when sneezing or coughing, and routine deep cleaning of the farm. Since the pandemic reached Miami, they’ve expanded the precautions: 

“Most drastically we’re restricting our attendance to no more than two kids at a time in accordance with social distancing. And because of limited attendance, we have fewer hands to help and are therefore at a reduced capacity. Despite all of this, we’re still going. There’s still interest and definitely still a need. Even if we get to a complete quarantine, our guests still have to eat and we will still strive to serve them nutritious options.”

In spite of the increased work and stress of running a farm in the center’s close quarters, Jackie feels that the pandemic situation has reinforced the importance of her work: “The good fight to end homelessness never stops–shelters keep running through even the most unprecedented emergencies, and we are charged with protecting some of society’s most vulnerable people. It’s actually been quite a blessing to grow closer as a team, adapt together, and try to preserve this homey space of healing and sanctuary despite all the madness outside.” 

Supporting Lotus House during COVID-19 and beyond 

In light of the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Jackie how the greater Freight Farms community can help Lotus House. 

“Because of the pandemic, we truly need help now more than ever. If you head to our website, you’ll see a donation link on the homepage. Anything helps. Your support is critical and immensely appreciated! We are taking so many extra measures and expenditures to supply PPE to our staff and guests, to hire additional persons for added sanitation, to ensure our supply stocks are sufficient, to do whatever we can to protect everyone living and working with us. And to prepare for the inevitable spike in homelessness that will result from this economic collapse.” 

Looking beyond COVID-19, Jackie also outlined how community support will help support the Lotus House farm in the future: “Our Farm was purchased and funded the first year through some local community grants, but those grant periods ended last month. We are now exploring new funding streams to advance the program. We accept donations, specifically made out to “The Farm” if possible. We also designed our own educational curriculum for the program, and are happy to share this along with technical training if you would like to replicate what we’re doing. And anyone interested in volunteering can reach out to me at jackie1@lotushouse.org!”