Nestled between two train cars-turned-restaurants on the other side of town, Henry Krull walks inside his shipping container farm. He points to a wall that's growing hundreds of bunches of butter lettuce.

Krull is the owner of fresh365, another Kenai Peninsula based hydroponic farm. Just like Edgy Veggie, the farm operates entirely indoors.

fresh365 owner Henry Krull holds a box of lion's mane. The hydroponic farm recently started growing mushrooms alongside its greens and herbs.

“The advantage of growing indoors, in a container like we have, is that we can control the environment," Krull said. "We can grow no matter what’s going on outside. It can be 30 below outside, but it’s always 70 degrees or so inside.”

fresh365 also sees an uptick in direct-to-consumer sales in the winter. Otherwise, most of their sales go to other businesses, like local restaurants.

A wall of lettuce was rolled aside to make way for rows of colorful edible flowers as Selma Davis looked through her hydroponic farm like a librarian confidently sifting through shelves of books.

She picked a piece of bright green arugula. "Give that a try. It is the most unbelievable arugula," Davis said. "It's spicy because it's older."

The bushels of arugula are among dozens of greens grown vertically within a large shipping container dropped by a crane on St. Helena Island farmland. On the inside, the 320-square-foot structure is high tech, using water to produce large yields of pesticide-free greens and vegetables through hydroponics.

Supply chains have always been complex, but recent global events have made them even more unpredictable. Between food safety concerns, disruptions caused by COVID-19, and evolving tariff policies, businesses and organizations that rely on food imports have faced increasing challenges.

These factors highlight why local food production is more important than ever - whether for farmers, schools, hospitals, or businesses looking to create a more stable and reliable food source.

The Vertical Farm at Illinois State University will use a repurposed 40 ft. by 8 ft. (320 sq. ft.) shipping container to grow plants, such as basil, cilantro, and parsley, year-round in an enclosed, controlled environment. The Farm uses a vertical hydroponic growing system, which includes recirculated nutrient solution and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting to grow 4,600 plants at full operation. This is the equivalent of 1-2 acres of field production but requires 95% less water at 5 gallons per day.

Students will use the site to train for careers in agriculture and horticulture specialty crop production. It also will serve as a demonstration site for other departments across campus, as well as local community groups, schools and businesses.

Controlled environment agriculture enables food production in small, non-traditional spaces, including shipping containers and urban centers. These systems embody the spirit of innovation, merging technology and sustainability to tackle critical global challenges like food security and climate resilience. The UConn team, led by Shuresh Ghimire, associate extension educator for vegetable crops, collaborates closely with Jeremy Whipple, farm manager of Meechooôk Farm, and Marissa Turnbull, director of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Department of Agriculture.

Last April, the Cincinnati Zoo started growing some of the food it needs to feed its animals. Less than a mile from the elephant enclosures and manatee displays, it set up two storage containers equipped with hydroponic systems to cultivate lettuce and kale.

Since then, the zoo has grown more than 8,000 pounds of produce in Avondale — enough to supply the giraffe feeding program.

Sustainability Project Manager Megan O’Keefe says the zoo still ships food in, but growing on-site is helping it be more resilient.

“We’re dipping our toe in the water because there has been supply chain issues, especially with climate change — we're experiencing more droughts on these farms that we get our lettuce from in California, in the Southwest,” O’Keefe said.

What is unique about AdventHealth Farm compared to other farms? Instead of growing food outdoors or in a greenhouse, AH uses vertical racks inside a shipping container. LED lights provide light adjusted for the optimal mix of red and blue light for the photosynthesis of each plant species being grown. Instead of plants growing horizontally such as in traditional outdoor farms, AH crops are grown vertically on tall, dual-sided towers hanging from the shipping container ceiling in rows, with carefully regulated nutrient water flowing from top to bottom.

If you're looking for Parisian carrots or Hakurei turnips in a pinch, a new Veggie Vault in the Strip District has your fix.

Why it matters: GetBlok Farms' first refrigerated food locker is open in The Terminal, delivering leafy greens, vegetables and herbs.

The Aliquippa company operates a hydroponic produce farm in a converted freight container, using sustainable farming practices and wind energy.

How it works: To use it, place your order on the GetBlok website and select a pickup day.

• They deliver orders three times a week.

• Use a code to unlock your unit and snag the veggies.

In the heart of Minnesota, a revolution in urban agriculture is taking root inside an unlikely vessel: a shipping container. This isn’t just any container—it’s a sophisticated hydroponic farm capable of producing 200 pounds of fresh produce weekly, equivalent to the yield of 2.5 acres of traditional farmland. At the helm of this innovative venture is Marcus Carpenter, founder of Route 1, whose vision extends far beyond mere food production to addressing generations of systemic inequities in American agriculture.

“During that fateful summer of 2020, I had an opportunity to take a step back, as we all did, and really think about why we were where we were in our society at that time,” Carpenter reflects. His contemplation led to a stark realization about the foundation of generational wealth in America: land ownership. This insight would become the cornerstone of a movement that’s now transforming urban agriculture and community empowerment.

When the mercury drops and the snow falls, operations at Foothills Farm in Greenfield Center remain unaffected.

Inside a 320-square-foot shipping container converted to a vertical hydroponic farm, thousands of plants thrive in an ideal environment with precisely controlled temperatures and humidity levels. At designated intervals the crops receive programmed amounts of water and nutrients. When they’ve matured, they’ll make their way to area restaurants and Skidmore College’s dining hall, providing some of the freshest local produce available.

Max and Nikki Poritzky co-founded the farm in 2023 shortly after relocating to the area from Newton, Massachusetts, in September 2022. The undertaking was five years in the planning, sparked by Max’s visit to a San Jose technology museum with the couple’s second daughter several years ago.

There, he stumbled upon a kiosk with an exhibit about vertical farming technology.

“I thought it was so cool that there was now such a thing that you could bring local agriculture to any environment on Earth,” he said.

Once complete, this campus will be home to a herculean and wholesome food production effort that will include nutritious food and skilled training, an expanded community garden and traditional food growing methods, hydroponic freight farm for year-round, low-resource food growing, and a deep winter greenhouse that will offer innovative, year-round food growing.

The campus will include a distribution center to accommodate FeedMore’s partner hunger relief agencies, as well as its home-delivered meal services and other targeted feeding programs

"We can literally put these things anywhere," Marcus Carpenter, founder of Route 1, said about the retrofitted shipping container that is equipped with advanced hydroponic technology.

In the middle of its first Minnesota winter, the 320-square-foot modular farm produces as much food as four acres of traditional farmland.

There are lights inside it that emulate the sun, allowing growth — even with snow on the ground. 

"I'm a fourth-generation farm kid and I just believe that our communities need help — specifically Black and Brown communities," Carpenter said.

Route 1 is an organization working to bring the farm to the people, especially in underserved communities. 

"The way that we can help these communities the most is through food," Carpenter said. "Food brings the community together." 

It's why Route 1 is focusing on lifting up farmers like Maggie, Jane, Colleen and Joyce.

It may not look like it, but there is a hydroponic farm within this container! We imagine you have many questions about this mysterious box sitting here. To help we have compiled a list of some questions to assist you.

The project involves using a hydroponic container farm on Governor's Island where the team is making a collaborative effort to grow crops and build relationships within the community.

This project is not only about providing fresh produce to New Yorkers, but also engaging the next generation with agriculture.

Nour El-Naboulsi is a Burlington, Vermont farmer — but he doesn’t tend to a field of crops or a clearing of cattle.

As the executive director of Village Hydroponics, El-Naboulsi oversees the operations of a vertical hydroponic farm inside of a recycled shipping container.

Village Hydroponics came out of the success of El-Naboulsi’s other project, a mutual aid food distribution collective called The People’s Farmstand. The initiative supplies fresh, culturally relevant food to underserved communities in the area, bringing together other local farmers to grow and share surplus produce in peak growing seasons.

But El-Naboulsi saw a gap in the availability of fresh produce — especially among New American communities — during Vermont’s harsh winters. He decided to shape up a shipping container for the job.

El-Naboulsi told Vermont Public Radio the project serves a diverse community of Nepali, Somali, Iraqi, Congolese, and Burundi families.

Our farm is a 40-foot refrigerated container (which takes up 320 sqft) that has been converted into a hydroponic smart farm. Our container translates to two acres of traditional farmland. What sets us apart is that we are practicing Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), which allows a grower to reduce the incidences of pests or disease, increase overall efficiency, and save resources. We utilize hydroponic growing systems to ensure that the plants receive optimal nutrients and water needed to produce an ample crop.

The entire process of CEA focuses on making the most of space, labor, water, energy, nutrients, and capital to operate while still producing a bountiful harvest.

A financial consultant with a passion for sustainability and a Lewis University Romeoville alumna with social service and environmental science backgrounds are running a Lockport business – and loving it.Ajay Nagarkatte, a consultant to financial institutions who is an urban farming enthusiast, started Second City Greens in 2021 in Lockport. Frank Voltattorni III joined as farm manager a short time later.

Hydroponic plants grow in special nutrient-rich water instead of soil, Voltattorni said. Second City Greens also uses coconut coir – the natural fiber found on the outer husk of a coconut – as its supporting surface, he said.

At the heart of Nimble Farms’ operations are modular, climate-controlled grow units housed in converted shipping containers. Designed to maximize productivity per square foot, each unit is equipped with energy-efficient LED lights, recirculating water and nutrient systems, and precise environmental controls.

This setup optimizes inputs such as fertilizer, water, and energy, enabling year-round production of a wide variety of high-quality, pesticide-free, non-GMO crops, including living lettuces, herbs, microgreens, and mushrooms. Emphasizing its commitment to sustainability, all Nimble Farms sites are powered 100% by renewable energy sourced from local solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.

Old shipping containers are now being used to fight against hunger in underserved communities.

Renee Camplese is bringing out vegetables that she says are better for you than organic.

“We have no need to use pesticides, so nothing is ever sprayed on our produce, ever,” said Camplese. 

She said their greens hold more nutrition because of where it came from. The greens are from an indoor farm, 80 Acres Farm, in the
Cincinnati area. 

“We started growing ten years ago in containers, old shipping containers that have been refurbished with lights and all of the piping and things that we needed to grow indoors, so it’s a hydroponic system. Then we have moved on from containers to large-scale production farms,” said Camplese.