Production facilities for the course include a Freight Farm, a 350-square-foot shipping container that will serve as a controlled environment greenhouse. When the Freight Farm is installed, it will be capable of growing the same amount of leafy greens as 1.5 to 2 acres, Kopsell said. Plans are to sell the produce to Campus Dining. 

“It’s amazing that you can have all that production right here,” he said.

A research project centers around understanding energy consumption of indoor farming
Each week, a shipping container farm in Citra sends lettuce to the University of Florida in Gainesville
This produce helps stock the on-campus food pantry, which is open to the entire UF community, from students to teachers
Pantry coordinator Lori Benson says, “It’s healthy. Produce is probably what students want the most”

“You don’t have to be missing food or struggling to come here. This is an opportunity for everyone, and it shows stuff like this is important for a community,” she said.

So, our purpose is to create a decentralized food system, meaning a greener food system, healthier communities, and healthier cities. So that's the overarching vision - creating a healthier relationship between food and people. And we're doing it by creating vertical farms, and our first one is in Lisbon