In Connecticut’s most populated city, High Ridge Hydroponics has redefined what it means to eat locally.

Over the last six years, this urban hydroponic container farm has become a trusted source of fresh greens for the Fairfield County community—supplying more than 50 restaurants, local farmers’ markets, and a growing network of distributors, schools, and small businesses in the greater Bridgeport area.

Science students at Germantown High School hosted a harvest event on Friday to showcase fresh greens they grew inside their classroom.

The students used an indoor hydroponic farming system to grow several varieties of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, mini cucumbers, snacking peppers and micro greens that they then served up at school lunch on Friday.

The district's food nutrition director, Jill Seefeld, said they built the lab this summer.

Across the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin border, a student at Winona Senior High School in Minnesota is growing up to 200 pounds of lettuce each month for school lunches — right in her school’s cafeteria. 

Sophomore Miriam Jackson is in charge of her school’s Flex Farms, which are hydroponic farms developed by Green Bay company Fork Farms for use in educational environments. Under Jackson’s care, the compact indoor growing systems have turned into a significant food source for more than 800 students at Winona Senior High School.

“They really like it. When we serve our Fork Farms lettuce, the students are actually building more salads,” Jennifer Walters, school nutrition director for the district, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

New research on using controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to grow plants with medicinal properties could lead to production methods that will increase one anti-cancer compound naturally produced by certain species of plants.

The study, led by doctoral student Rebekah Maynard, was designed to identify crops to be used in medical treatments and to develop strategies to increase the concentration of an anti-cancer compound produced by the plants.

Working with Rhuanito Ferrarezi, associate professor of CEA crop physiology, Maynard grew compact crops with a short life cycle—chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) and parsley (Petroselinum crispum)—in a vertical farming environment. The researchers measured the plants' production of apigenin, a natural anti-inflammatory compound with promising anti-cancer effects.

New York City Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr. presented a $175,000 check to PS 811X: The Academy for Career and Living Skills, in the South Bronx for the school’s new hydroponic classroom.

The check was presented as Salamanca joined students, teachers, parents and faculty at PS 811X for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of the new hydroponic lab. Also on hand for the ceremony were members of the nonprofit New York Sun Works, which builds state-of-the-art hydroponic classrooms.

Students at the school will use the new lab to learn about and conduct experiments related to hydroponics, which involves growing plants with water-based nutrient solutions instead of soil.

80 Acres Farms began its journey inside a shipping container, as its team experimented with different farming technologies to develop efficient vertical systems. The company’s methodical approach to growth, testing and refining led to a pivotal moment when it launched its first 70,000-square-foot farm in Hamilton, Ohio.

The innovative facility is longer than a football field and includes 10 growing levels stacked on top of each other. The farm’s initial success was followed by further expansion, including the more recent Kentucky facility, which has been in operation since late 2022.

“Our goal from the start was to develop systems that could handle the stresses of population growth, farmland loss and climate change,” says Noah Zelkind, vice president of business intelligence and strategic finance for 80 Acres Farms. “We’ve learned from every farm we built, and now we’re focused on scaling up to bring fresh, healthy food to more people. It’s not just about growing food but about fitting into the community and using what’s already there.”

In the corner of Cal Poly Pomona President Soraya Coley’s office suite stands an odd-looking, futuristic contraption.

At first glance, it looks like it could be a robot or communications satellite. But instead of solar panels or antennae, it has flexible arms with bright LED lamps that fold over. Leafy greens and herbs grow in little black pots on the gleaming white plastic body.

The appliance is a sustainable aeroponic vertical garden that was donated to the president’s office by LA Urban Farms, a company that is a leader in the local food growing movement.

The company assists customers in creating their own tower farms. It has helped create urban farms at UCLA and USC, which help supply produce for campus dining operations, including dining halls, restaurants, and food pantries.

It’s a farm inside a kitchen.

Carl Lasley harvested basil plants, using scissors to carefully snip the aromatic herb, trimming some and completely harvesting others. The lush, richly green plants were grown in hydroponic trays in a corner of the food serving area at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Lasley, food and beverage director at the Darden School for the FLIK Hospitality Group, which operates Darden Dining, harvested the basil from an idea that sprouted at the University and has now returned as a realized product. 

Not only is it possible to grow food all year long, but it's being done inside a Mount Pearl office building.

Green Farm N.L. runs a food growing operation that produces leafy greens, herbs and microgreens, no matter the season, from a home base in the Donovans industrial park. 

"We're doing this in about 2,000 square feet of retrofitted office space," said founder Scott Neary. 

Hydroponics — the method of growing plants in water rather than soil — has been Neary's solution to the lack of fresh greens in the province for most of the year.

The company serves around 250 households and dozens of restaurants in St. John's and the surrounding areas by delivery and subscription service.

Welcome back to your favorite source of pre-owned hydroponic equipment information!

This month, we’re bringing you:

1. Two exciting listings for the opportunists amongst us

2. A unique case study

3. A tip to sell more efficiently

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.

There are examples of innovations in the space. British Columbia-based QuantoTech Solutions, a vertically integrated ag-tech company, has developed a growing system that features 8 by 12 feet sheds with shelving units to allow for vertical farming, producing 4.8 between 7.2 tonnes of food per year, including leafy greens, strawberries, and cherry tomatoes.

Innovative Partnership: Land Betterment and anu™ have announced a partnership to commercialize autonomous fresh produce growing systems using up-cycled shipping containers. Technology Integration: The collaboration combines ekō Solutions’ modular construction expertise with anu™’s Rotary Aeroponics® technology.

The Urban Farming Depot is conceptualized as a radical apparatus for food production and an urban monument. Through provocatively choreographing the food system and public activities between existing skyscrapers in cities, the project attempts to address urban food insecurity in metropolises around the world, using London as a testing site.

A shipping container behind the high school looks deceptively like a storage unit — until its giant, flower-shaped solar array turns to track the sun. Inside, the container holds the equivalent of two-and-a-half acres of farmland, capable of growing up to six tons of produce every single year.

Explore our container farm in detail — at your own pace, or with the help of a video guide

Watch our new whiteboard video, which briefly illustrates the benefits of growing produce in the Vertical Hydroponic Farms we build and sell. If you're so inclined, share it with your network

IPO Edge hosted a fireside chat at the 2024 ICR Conference with Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms. The in-person interview was joined by Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone and they discussed future global trends and prospects for the agricultural technology industry