A company specializing in vertical farming was awarded the “2025 Coolest Thing Made in Colorado” by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

The statewide business lobbying group celebrated the top inventions of the state for the past four years with this recognition aiming to highlight different locally-made products.

Wellstar Hospital in Georgia operates an onsite container farm called “WellFarm” through a partnership with FarmBox Foods.

The vertical farm supplies fresh herbs and greens for patient meals, the hospital bistro, and the gift shop.

Produce grown onsite is used for nutritional therapy, particularly for immunocompromised patients. The farm supports community engagement and wellness programming.

The Colorado Chamber of Commerce today announced that the Vertical Hydroponic Farm by FarmBox Foods has been named the Coolest Thing Made in Colorado for 2025. The award was presented that the Coolest Thing Made Awards ceremony presented by FirstBank.

The Vertical Hydroponic Farm, manufactured in Aurora, uses patented vertical farming technology inside upcycled shipping containers to maximize growing space while minimizing water and energy use.

A company specializing in vertical farming was awarded the “2025 Coolest Thing Made in Colorado” by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

The statewide business lobbying group celebrated the top inventions of the state for the past four years with this recognition aiming to highlight different locally-made products.

This year’s winner was the Vertical Hydroponic Farm made by FarmBox Foods out of Aurora.

• FarmBox Foods helps hospitals estimate financial and nutritional ROI before the implementation of their container farms.

• Key factors include operational costs, yield, reduced readmissions, and local sourcing benefits.

• Predictable production enables budget planning over the long term.

• Bonus depreciation incentives make CAPEX more attractive for institutions.

• ROI is also measured in patient outcomes, staff wellness, and community engagement.

A Pagosa Springs-based small business that uses a controlled-climate container farm to grow culinary and functional mushrooms is now certified organic.

Behind the Tooth & Gill Mushroom Co. brand is husband-and-wife team Aaron Carter and Lauren Hawksworth, both of whom left the corporate world to pursue their passion for improving community access to healthy food in the form of gourmet mushrooms.

These particular mushrooms are grown entirely in the confines of an insulated, tech-assisted shipping container farm built by Colorado-based FarmBox Foods.

Company growing hydroponic trees for burn scars

There are new baby blue spruce trees growing near Sedalia that are unlike any others.

• Vertical farming is being adopted by healthcare systems to provide fresh, nutrient-rich food directly onsite.

• FarmBox Foods offers shipping container farms designed for non-farmers, with training and operational support.

• Hospitals use these systems for patient meals, cafeteria offerings, and community outreach.

• Vertical farming contributes to ESG goals and therapeutic agriculture initiatives.

• Early adopters are using it for wellness programs, cost control, and food system resilience.

• FarmBox Foods partners with healthcare systems to deploy container farms for onsite food production.

• Hospitals use fresh produce for patient meals, wellness programs, and community outreach.

• The systems are designed for non-farmers, with training and long-term operational support.

• Benefits include improved nutritional outcomes, predictable food budgets, and reduced reliance on external suppliers.

• FarmBox Foods is contributing to ESG goals and the growing “food as medicine” movement.

Kris Sutton was an aircraft mechanic for 13 years. Now he grows lettuce, a career picked up during the Covid-19 pandemic, and realized on his property in Enfield, Nova Scotia. In some ways, aircraft were simpler.

“When we got the farm,” says Sutton, “I didn’t realize I was going to be a chemist, an electrician, a plumber, as well as a farmer.”

That’s because his is not a traditional farm, with acres, soil, sunlight, and spring rain. His is an indoor, hydroponic, vertical farm, with 9,000 leafy greens growing simultaneously in a 326 square foot shipping container.

A South Side agricultural hub where young people grow food, cook healthy dishes and supply fresh produce for neighbors was one of 14 projects awarded a Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grant Thursday. 

The Gary Comer Youth Center Food Sovereignty Hub will receive $250,000 through the grant program. Mayor Brandon Johnson joined campus leaders and Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th), whose ward includes the youth center, to announce the news in Greater Grand Crossing Wednesday. 

The money will be used to expand the Food Sovereignty Hub, 7230 S. South Chicago Ave., which will include a greenhouse, an outdoor kitchen classroom, a Farmbox container farm with an indoor hydroponic garden, a newly designed commercial space for Farmers Markets and a chicken coop.

Container mushroom farming is a method of cultivating mushrooms inside a retrofitted 40-foot shipping container. The entire growing process—from preparing the substrate to harvesting—is conducted within a controlled environment. These farms typically include:

• A mixing station for combining substrates (e.g., soybean hulls and hardwood pellets)

• Steam cabinets for pasteurization

• A clean lab with a HEPA flow hood for inoculation with grain spawn

• Colonization chambers for mycelium development

• Fruiting rooms equipped with misting systems and shelving for vertical space optimization

A shipping container in the middle of EPIC Campus in Littleton, Colorado, has become an unexpected training ground for the next generation of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) professionals. Inside, high school students grow crops hydroponically from seed to harvest, building technical knowledge and discovering new career paths in a rapidly evolving sector.

The vertical hydroponic farm, built by FarmBox Foods, operates as part of the school's Natural Resources Pathway. Students manage crop production from start to finish, applying lessons in plant physiology, hydroponics, and food safety, while working toward an industry-recognized BASF plant science certification.

Bear Creek High School senior Johnny Ngo talks about his experience at the FarmBox Foods campus near Denver for his senior field study.

Morgan Community College's Vertical Hydroponic Farm arrived on campus in mid-2024, and it's had a major impact on multiple fields of study.

Bill Miller, Precision Agriculture Faculty & Division Chair for Career Technical Education programming, talks about how it has inspired students and faculty and brought a new dynamic to interactive learning.

Funded by a U.S. Department of Education Title III STEM grant, the FarmBox is a repurposed refrigerator container equipped with full-spectrum LED lighting, seedling trays, and moveable grow walls that can hold 3,888 plants. This system can produce as much as 2.5 to 3 acres of crops annually, harvesting 684 plants weekly while using only 3 to 5 gallons of water daily.

“The FarmBox uses programmable logic (PLC) to operate lights, pumps, timers, valves, and other equipment to grow the product,” said George O’Clair, MCC Electromechanical Technology Faculty. “The Electrical Mechanical Technology (ELMT) students study PLCs to operate those items. The FarmBox will be beneficial to the class to see an operating PLC in action.”

"With our containers, we're able to meet some of the challenges that traditional farming has struggled with," Cammack said.

Cammack says the climate-controlled containers use 95% less water than traditional farming and are more energy efficient. They can grow food year-round, in harsh climates, and urban environments.

"It only takes up about five parking spaces to land one of these containers, so you can land these in the middle of a city and be growing 2.5 acres annually right there behind a restaurant," Cammack said.

The container farm-to-table concept also eliminates the food loss and the environmental toll of supply chain food transport.

Farmbox sells the containers to restaurants, schools, grocery chains, health care systems, farmers, ranchers and wholesalers.

Following its announcement of a new partnership, Denver7 traveled to Sedalia to meet with Colorado-based FarmBox Foods LLC and learn how its container farms will soon help people around the world.