University of Florida officials will gather in Citra to celebrate and tour PSREU’s first “smart garden,” a 320-square-foot agricultural pod outfitted to grow fruits and vegetables hydroponically.

“It’s essentially a shipping container similar to one used to ship goods from Asia or Europe to the United States,” said James Boyer, PSREU director of research administration.

Ying Zhang, UF/IFAS assistant professor of controlled environments, is leading a team of researchers studying indoor agriculture techniques by growing lettuce inside the pod. The team marked its first harvest earlier this month.

A suspicious fire at the BlackSeed Agroecology Farm & Village on South Whidbey destroyed an estimated $250,000 worth of hydroponic equipment Friday afternoon.

Island County Sheriff Rick Felici said investigators gathered evidence from the scene and sent it to the Washington State Crime Lab to help identify whether any accelerant may have been used to start the fire.

Whether it’s a community garden or fully-dedicated land near a dense, city center, urban farming has surged in popularity in recent years. These farms impact local communities by providing education about climate change, food security, biodiversity, pollinators and nutrition.

Urban agriculture contributes between 15% and 20% of the global food supply, according to the USDA. This can help cities be more equitable because it creates easier access to fresh produce.

Julian Jacobs is the owner of Adrina Farms, which is located in Uptown Charlotte at the Innovation Barn. His farm is a hyperlocal, hydroponic farm where they grow lettuce, leafy green and root vegetables inside a 320-square-foot indoor space.

In partnership with the Deere Foundation, Freight Farms, the city of Rock Island, and the Quad City Botanical Center, Tapestry Farms announces today a significant expansion of our food-growing capabilities for 2024 and beyond.

This morning, a 320-square-foot self-contained hydroponics unit, which can grow between two and six tons of produce annually, arrived from Freight Farms in Boston by semi truck and crane to the parking lot of the Botanical Center. This container will give our organization the opportunity to double, or possibly triple, the amount of produce we can grow each year, said Ann McGlynn, executive director of Tapestry Farms.

Farmers across the U.S. are ditching industrial livestock farms for more sustainable and healthier vegetable farms, per a report by the Guardian. 

Thanks to Transformation, an organization dedicated to helping farmers leave poultry farming and begin vegetable farming, farmers now have the resources and knowledge to make the sustainable switch. 

On top of providing farmers with technical support, Transformation also gives grants ranging between $10,000 and $20,000 to farmers transitioning away from poultry farming. 

"We're constructing fully autonomous farms alongside manual farms across Japan and Southeast Asia. Our goal is to stay at the forefront of vertical farming innovations, which is why we have a co-research farm based in Osaka, collaborating with the local university on the most current research," says Hernan Ocampos, the Section Head of the Food Tech Department at Espec Mic Corp.

Espec Mic has been involved in horticulture and vertical farming since 1988, Espec Mic and has expanded its expertise to include climate chambers, greenhouses, vertical farms, hydroponics, nurseries, growing cabinets, and urban greening solutions.

The "Cubes" containers from the Swiss Mabewo Group is a good example of the application of the latest Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technologies to optimise plant growth and prevent pest infestation. Using special airlocks and precise process control, the cubes create an environment that guarantees optimum growth conditions for plants. Up to 1.5 tonnes of fresh grass, including grains and root mass, can be harvested daily with a four-cube system - proof of the efficiency and scalability of today's crop cultivation systems.

The programs and facilities include the “Freight Farm” where hydroponic gardens grow a variety of food inside donated shipping containers equivalent to 4 acres of farmland. It includes the Emerging Farmers Institute, offering intensive virtual coursework on the fundamentals of farming, while also including sessions aimed at tackling the most commonly faced mental stressors of working in agriculture.

Brad McNamara, Co-Founder and President of Freight Farms, joins us on this week’s episode to discuss:

- Scaling local food production around the world

- Decentralized vs centralized farming

- Drive-in farmer’s markets

- Notable customer stories

- The future of food production

- Two big ideas rotting in his idea graveyard

Land Betterment's portfolio company, ekō Solutions, and anu™ were recently featured on Middle Tech's weekly podcast with Co-Host, Logan Jones. During this fascinating conversation about innovative agricultural technology, Kirk Taylor, Land Betterment Co-Founder and Scott Massey, anu™ Co-Founder discussed how their jointly developed commercial-scale Pure Produce® Container Farms are revolutionizing how and where fresh produce is grown.

James Sprunt Community College is raising the bar on “smart farming” by implementing a Smart Farm Hydroponics Growing Container equipped with cutting-edge technology marrying food production and education.  More than just growing plants, we are growing the ways we improve our students, our communities, and our local economy.

Recently, the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission (NCTTFC) provided Four County Electric Membership Corporation (FCEMC) and JSCC with funding to purchase a hydroponic smart farm container. The Smart Farm is located at the JSCC WestPark Center in Warsaw.

There will be an app where people can join a rideshare group or ride the nearest available Bubblic Public. That is where you can also hail one for your delivery or smart farm purposes and the vehicle will be transformed according to your need. It is an interesting concept and one that we may actually see in the near future. Maybe eventually there will be even be a flying bubble so it will stay true to its name.

The Hydroponics Smart Farm — dubbed “Box to Bowl” — is the result of a partnership that includes JSCC, Four County Electric Membership Corporation, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives, Duplin County, and the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.

Box to Bowl consists of a 40-foot-long shipping container that provides growing area equal to two acres of land, in which plants are grown in a controlled environment absent soil and pesticides.

Today, they're growing in a shipping container. Soon, hopefully, they'll take root in Colorado's forests.

It's a nontraditional start for hundreds of baby trees meant to reforest areas burned by wildfire, in a project between a Colorado-based power cooperative and a group of innovative farmers.

Back in 2016, my husband Dale and I founded ShipShape Urban Farms (SUF). Dale's expertise in environmental design, landscape architecture, and city planning, and mine in horticulture and hydroponics made for a perfect match and a clear mission to change the game in sustainable agriculture.

The 20-foot containers will feature a modified version of the anu™ smart garden appliance that utilizes rotary aeroponics technology to grow crops year-round without traditional farming challenges. Together, ekō Solutions and anu™ are revolutionizing sustainable agriculture through their commercial-scale Pure Produce® Containers.

Six initiatives received $10,000 grants and access to a shared pool of $100,000 to jumpstart projects, as well as space on the island to install the equipment needed to pilot the ideas.

They run the gamut from air quality monitoring efforts by community group South Bronx Unite, carbon dioxide removal from a company called Vycarb and a vertical hydroponic farm in a shipping container, managed by the nonprofit GrowNYC.

WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. - Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of hydroponic farming equipment was destroyed on Whidbey Island Friday. The equipment was recently donated to Black Seed Farms and is worth $250,000.Black Seed Farms, according to its website, is a local nonprofit that operates under its parent organization, Modest Family Solutions (MFS).

Kentucky native David Neville is currently growing lettuce in an indoor vertical farming house. The owner of Capstone Farms says crops are used for school lunches.

“As a farmer, I’m always looking for opportunities and I’m looking for different ways to do things,” Neville said.

The container allows farmers to grow the produce in time for the first day of school, despite the hot summer weather.

Located in a 40-foot shipping container, the hydroponic farm embraces urban farming and sustainable agriculture techniques such as rainwater harvesting to grow up to three acres of produce. Block & Drum visitors will be able to visit the farm, smell the fresh botanicals (mint, basil, dandelion, honeysuckle), and even pick some to create a custom bottle of liquor (think honeysuckle vodka).

“We wanted to connect people to the raw natural product,” Staples explains.