We present the comprehensive design, construction, and implementation of a 12-m shipping container adapted into a plant growth chamber optimized for industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivation.

The system integrates appliances such as air conditioners, dehumidifiers, light-emitting diode growth lights, and advanced environmental controllers.

People working in remote locations like the open sea, deep-sea areas and polar regions have long struggled with limited access to fresh vegetables, but are now able to grow and enjoy their own produce.

Notably, a smart farm designed for ship applications made its debut at Marintec China 2025 held in Shanghai in east China this week.

Penn State Extension will offer a five-week webinar series titled Basics of Hydroponic Production every Wednesday from February 18 through March 18, 2026, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. EST. This lunchtime series is designed to introduce participants to the core principles of growing vegetables without soil. Key topics include hydroponic systems, lighting, climate control, nutrient and water quality management, insect and disease management, microgreens, and food safety.

A recycled shipping container now serves as a mini-ecosystem, teaching kids about aquaponics — a system of aquaculture which involves raising both plants and fish together. The fish provide nutrients to the plants, and the plants provide clean water for the fish.

Kaben Smallwood, CEO of Symbiotic Aquatics and the designer of the exhibit, says the process allows farmers to take their minds off their tools and keep them on their products.

In 2016, Growcer installed its first modular, vertical farm in Churchill, Man., where food security can be precarious. Growcer’s team trained the local community how to operate and maintain the hydroponic farm that is housed inside what looks like a shipping container where plants grow on stacked shelves under LED lights.

Within weeks, the community saw the cost of vegetables plummet by 50 percent simply because the locally grown produce replaced leafy imports.

Aquaponics in Action Exhibit Brings Sustainable Food Systems Education to Families

As part of MAD’s commitment to community engagement and workforce development, Southern Miss, Symbiotic LLC, the GULF BLUE Initiative and LMDC have partnered to create a public aquaponics education exhibit housed in a retrofitted shipping container.

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

Summer Street is an organization supporting people with diverse abilities and is participant led. This project to start growing local food was years in the making with goals to:
1) Grow fresh local food to eat
2) Create meaningful employment
3) Grow food to give back to the community

Kimbal Musk's journey encompasses school gardens, vertical farms in shipping containers, and educational projects that advocate for local cultivation, healthy consumption, and agriculture as a tool for continuous social transformation.

While Elon Musk dominates global debates about technology and transportation, his younger brother, Kimbal Musk, follows a different path because he sees food as a way to have a direct social impact.

Objective: To reduce Barbados' 85% dependence on imported food, create a new generation of climate-resilient farmers, and provide a consistent, high-quality local produce supply that is protected from extreme weather events.

The installation uses modular, containerized vertical farms (three units total: two for production, one for nursery/support) equipped with aeroponic systems and energy-efficient LED lighting.

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.

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.

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.