Escalante Middle School students are running a warm and flourishing hydroponic indoor oasis for their hand-grown plants and herbs this winter – and their bounty is stocking the school cafeteria and shelves at Durango Natural Foods.

The state recently awarded the Watertown Schools a grant to run its farm-to-school program, including its Freight Farm.

Watertown Public Schools has received more than $80,000 in state grant funding to continue its farm-to-school efforts, expanding learning opportunities for Watertown’s students while also increasing local food production.

Growcer is taking a prudent approach to growth and capital, as the Canadian indoor ag company scales up with the help of Mars Discovery District

Canada imports as much as 90 per cent of its lettuce, a fact that seems woefully out of step with a Buy Canadian ethos. It’s not just a greens issue — according to tracking from UBC, roughly 60 per cent of the vegetables and 80 per cent of the fruit consumed in the country comes from elsewhere. Most of us are hoping to change this reality: a survey by KPMG in February found that 93 per cent of Canadians prefer locally grown produce.

Shipping containers are popping up across Harlem in ways that go far beyond their industrial past.

They’re growing food, cleaning up streets, inspiring urban design, and reshaping how Harlem thinks about space and sustainability. Here is how used containers in New York are repurposed for a new life in Harlem.

With farms across western Jamaica badly damaged after Hurricane Melissa and warnings of food shortages beginning to surface, Blueprint Farms is already seeing early signs of rising demand for its climate-resilient hydroponic systems.

Founder Jermaine Bryan says the surge in interest comes as households and businesses look for alternative ways to secure fresh produce amid supply disruptions.

“We anticipate that smart vertical farming will play a significant future role in our winter food supply using big warehouses for cities like Winnipeg and shipping containers for smaller Northern communities,” says Cha.

With vertical farms, producers accelerate plant growth at night to take advantage of lower electricity rates outside of peak hours.

A new partnership aims to bring fresh, local produce to those in need in central Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin PureGrow Project: A Sustainable Growth Initiative was launched at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Marshfield, according to a community announcement. The collaboration involves the university, Marshfield Clinic region of Sanford Health and Fork Farms.

Students at Oilfields High School in Diamond Valley, Alta., are getting their hands dirty learning about vertical farming.

“I enjoy the hands-on experience we get—a hands-on environment where we’re learning how to do stuff that we don’t get to learn everywhere else,” said Taeyo Shipman, a student working on the vertical farm.

By introducing students to hydroponics and aquaponics, the lab has the ability to teach that food production doesn’t have to rely on large carbon footprints associated with fuel and long-distance transportation.

Kassandra Clint, student lab manager, monitors the hydroponics system daily to ensure proper pH and nutrient levels.

Agrihome SG has partnered with The Eton Academy at Mountbatten to bring several aeroponic farms to their new center.

This partnership highlights how seamlessly sustainability and hands-on learning can blend. Students now get to enjoy fresh greens straight from the farm, with zero food waste and a fun way to learn about where their food comes from.

Hydroponics is a method for growing food in a water-based solution rich in nutrients, rather than using soil. This allows growers to plant more crops in a smaller area, saving land and water, and enabling plants to grow up to 50% faster than in traditional farming methods.

Hofstra University unveiled plans to install a Freight Farms Greenery™ S hydroponic container farm on its North Campus as part of the University’s ongoing “Pride Farm” sustainability initiatives. The container farm is supported by New York State Senator Siela A. Bynoe.

Chris Regini is a New York State Master Teacher that holds a degree in physics from the University of Connecticut. He has spent 20 years in the Half Hollow Hills school district, where he uses hydroponic farming to teach students about horticulture, AgTech, and engineering.

We recently spoke with Chris to learn about his journey with CEA and his experiences bringing AgTech into the classroom.

Based in New York, the company began with container retrofits and has since expanded into scalable panel rooms and full facility fitouts. To date, it has delivered more than 200 grow systems across North America.

"We design modular grow rooms that can be delivered and up and running in under 12 weeks," says Greg Payne, Founder of Box4Grow. "Whether it's a standalone grow room or a multi-room facility, we help you get growing faster and for less cost."

Lettuce grows in one of Auburn University's six AmplifiedAg vertical units. The university's FoodU program recently added four units to the two already in use. (contributed)

The Auburn University College of Agriculture and Campus Dining recently added four new container farms to its vertical farming operation. The four new farms, outfitted in shipping containers, are from AmplifiedAg, a leader in indoor agriculture.

College-in-the-Woods (CIW) Dining Hall is not only surrounded by greenery on the outside, but also grows fresh leafy greens inside the building. Throughout the dining area, glowing white columns sprout herbs, lettuce and more, giving diners a first-hand look at sustainability in action at Binghamton University.

Three Tower Gardens were planted at CIW in fall 2024 after the Binghamton University Dining Services (BUDS) team learned about the hydroponic towers and collaborated with the University to bring them on-site.

Interview explores how Joaquin Gonzalez Chilean ranch upbringing and agricultural engineering background led to a career focused on hydroponic fodder systems.

Eleusis Feed is targeting drought-prone regions and larger livestock operations with industrial-scale fodder production using significantly less water than conventional systems.