As southern Nevada works to strengthen food security amid an arid climate and limited arable land, University of Nevada, Reno Extension is offering an educational certificate series on indoor vertical farming, or hydroponics, to equip commercial growers, home gardeners, Master Gardener volunteers and educators with research-based expertise in soil-free vegetable farming.

In parallel with its product expansion, FullCircle26 is collaborating with The MARM Farm, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit organization focused on education, conservation, and food accessibility.

The collaboration centers on the development of a 40-foot container-based growing unit that combines hydroponic production with mushroom cultivation.

University City High School is in the center of the sprawl in and around St. Louis — about as insulated as it could be from the wide swaths of farmland outside the city.

Tucked in the back of the school, between the gymnasium and the swimming facility, is a shipping container that contains the school’s new hydroponic farm.

Ray Fankhauser, sustainability lead at the school, was one of the people behind entering the school for the award.

Fankhauser said that with the level of interest from the students to work the garden, they needed something bigger, so they looked at developing a modular hydroponic farm using Canadian technology called Growcer.

Some Mayfield City Schools students are experiencing the satisfaction of having the fruits (or in this case the lettuce) of their classroom efforts result in a real-life application -- helping to feed their fellow students.

Hawaiʻi Department of Education is rolling out a new process that encourages small farm micropurchases of locally grown produce for school meals throughout the state in an effort to advance farm-to-school initiatives.

Just a few miles from our Hamilton office sits an unexpected hub of innovation: a fully operational hydroponic farm tucked inside a refurbished shipping container at the Robbinsville Municipal Complex.

Living in a small, remote community can make it hard to get fresh fruit and vegetables in a pinch. Add to that road closures due to wildfires or storms, making access to grocery stores tough for residents of Anacla and Bamfield.

It also makes bringing in fresh produce equally difficult for the local grocer.

A Suffolk church is tackling food insecurity with an indoor aeroponic farm that grows fresh vegetables without soil and gives them away for free. Greater Works Community Outreach Ministries operates the "Garden of Eat'n," a vertical indoor farm that uses a growing method called aeroponics.

According to the data, the food production method will grow from $8 billion in 2025 to $39.7 billion by 2032. The technique is named for growing crops in layers on top of each other, using water-based systems rather than soil.

The report states that the most popular place to build vertical farms commercially is in shipping containers, due to their “flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability.”

The Living Food initiative is being developed in partnership with One Season Farmers and Harvest Today, combining indoor agriculture technology with a health-centered mission to improve access to fresh food, strengthen local food systems, and support long-term community wellness.

To expand the program, Delaware partnered with Growcer to add a modular vertical farm. The indoor farm can grow fresh produce year-round using less water and land than outdoor farming.

Located near the pantry, it will supply members with freshly harvested lettuces, leafy greens like kale and spinach, and herbs like mint and basil to take home.

As the world becomes increasingly aware of the link between food choices and overall health, a new generation of students is poised to create major changes in the food industry. Students exposed to education models that embrace growing and valuing fresh produce will ultimately be tomorrow's customers.  

This shift has the potential to fundamentally alter how food companies operate, what products fill store shelves, and how food is marketed to consumers.

In Alert, Nunavut — the northernmost continuously inhabited place on Earth, just 817 km from the North Pole — winter brings 24-hour darkness and temperatures below -30°C. Fresh food is typically flown in, but flights are often delayed for weeks, leaving residents without produce.

To reduce this dependency, Molly Farquhar launched The C.A.N. (Continuous Alert Nourishment) — a hydroponic vertical farm built inside a renovated shipping container.

The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) will launch its next vertical agriculture course on March 31, offering hands-on training in a fast-growing sector of modern farming.

The controlled environment can accelerate plant growth and increase yields while using less water and fewer pesticides.

Farish Anfal and Calvin Aranha, both 26 years old, are budding techpreneurs who have integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) into hydroponic farms through their start-up company, Krop AI.

They started Krop AI in 2021 as a startup agritech company based out of Brahmavara in Udupi district.

Summer Street Farm grows fresh vegetables year-round to help provide local food security, and employees with diverse abilities say they feel good about contributing. The CBC's Yuan Wang took a tour of the farm.

Here's the thing about Summer Street Farm in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia: it started with people who just wanted to do something impactful around food.

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.