Container farms for food banks make it possible to grow fresh produce indoors, every day of the year, regardless of season or weather. A container farm‍ ‍is a repurposed shipping container fitted with hydroponic growing systems, LED lighting, and climate control, and it lets a food bank become a producer of fresh food rather than only a distributor of it.

Inside the Greater Chicago Food Depository is a new garden of sorts. Fragrant herbs are sprouting from four high-tech hydroponic units. "We grow what the kitchen generally requests," said Mick O'Donnell, the food bank's hydroponic specialist. .

"We grow what the kitchen generally requests," said Mick O'Donnell, the food bank's hydroponic specialist. "Right now, basil and dill are a seasonal product.

For a decade, Growcer has been working alongside communities across Canada to prove that local, year-round food production is not only possible, it is transformative.