News About Farming in Shipping Containers & Limited Indoor Spaces
USA - FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA: Urban Farmer Works to Harvest Success With Her Microgreens/Herb Business
As a high school student, Morgan Christl discovered the positive effects that microgreens had on her health. This helped spark a business that has morphed into her urban farm, Earth-to-Jar Botanicals.
Two Black Teens Launch Mobile Farm to Inspire the Next Generation of Agriculture Enthusiasts
The Mobile Farm is designed as a working classroom on wheels. Participants will be able to see live plants growing in vertical systems, understand how water and nutrients move through modern growing equipment, learn how seeds become mature plants, and experience the complete growing process from germination through harvest.
The Future Of Food Education Is In Classrooms, On Farms, And Everywhere In Between
The intersection of food and education goes well beyond just school lunches; food systems can be a tool for instruction on a variety of subjects and values, educators, farmers, chefs, and other experts said during the “Future of Food Education” Summit during Climate Week NYC.
Operating Containerized Hydroponic Mini-Farms in the Arctic Requires Specialized Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Engineering
Standard shipping containers would fail immediately in an Alaskan winter; however, ruggedized "Arctic-ready" systems are built to withstand outside temperatures dropping below -40°F to -60°F while maintaining a steady 70°F internal growing environment.
USA - MISSISSIPPI: Real Farming Experience Available to Students
Itawamba Agriculture High School’s (IAHS) agriculture program has added a hydroponics unit that lets students grow vegetables indoors without soil.
Heather Carpenter, diversified agriculture science teacher and Future Farmers of America advisor at IAHS, said the unit gives students hands-on experience with a new production style.
Featured Farm: Christians United Outreach Center of Lee County | Sanford, North Carolina
Since 2022, four volunteers have been operating four Flex Farm units as part of the organization’s work to provide food to neighbors in need. By rotating harvests across the farms, the team is able to harvest approximately every two weeks, growing multiple varieties of lettuce along with herbs including cilantro, dill, and basil.
Worth a Thousand Words: Feed the People
Inside a climate-controlled shipping container, rows of fresh lettuce grow under LED lights. For Marcus Carpenter ’00, the crop represents more than a novel way to grow food. He sees it as part of a larger effort to solve a problem he believes the American food system has overlooked.
USA - A Farm in Panther Dining Hall? Hydroponic Gardens Grow Fresh Produce at Florida Tech
Babylon Micro-Farms is a company founded at the University of Virginia that specializes in creating and distributing hydroponic systems for growing plants indoors. The farms, as displayed at Florida Tech, used controlled lighting, water and nutrients to grow plants without soil.
USA - MAINE: Castine Hydroponic Farm Donates 100 Percent of its Produce
A containerized hydroponic farm refers to a self-contained growing system, normally built inside a repurposed shipping container. Plants can grow inside these shipping containers without dirt or sunlight. LED grow lights and nutrient-rich water stand in for sunlight and soil, enabling plants to photosynthesize year-round.
USA - How Plant Science is Taking Root in East St. Louis
Tova Feinberg, the founder of Vertigreens, has spent the past five years developing a vertical hydroponic farming startup. Instead of using acres of soil, she grows lettuce on shelves that she stacks to the ceiling in shipping containers.
USA - WISCONSIN: Proposed Greenhouse Could Expand Hands-on Learning at Osceola High School
Current growing equipment consists of racks, grow lights, and hydroponic systems. Pictured left to right are students Reecelyn Rada, Jacob Haase, and Hannah Davis.
Arkansas Colleges of Health Education Brings Hands-On Learning to Area Classrooms Through Hydroponic Gardens
The Arkansas Colleges of Health Education Research Institute Health & Wellness Center expanded its hydroponic gardening efforts this summer by equipping area teachers with the tools and knowledge to bring hydroponics directly into their classrooms.
USA - OHIO: Lima Senior Agriculture Students Turn Hydroponic Towers into Fresh Food for the Community
It’s a win-win as Lima City Schools and the West Ohio Food Bank partner to provide fresh produce while addressing food insecurity in the area.
The West Ohio Food Bank used grant dollars to purchase five hydroponic growing towers for the program. Students plant, care for and harvest leafy greens, including lettuce, arugula and collard greens.
CANADA: Growing Mushrooms With AI
Officially founded in Toronto by Christopher Klich and Justin Cheng, the startup joined the University of Waterloo’s Velocity incubator in mid-2023 to scale its AI-driven gourmet mushroom farms in shipping containers.
USA - ARKANSAS: Fort FireFly Opens in Fort Smith; Teachers Learn About Hydroponic Gardens
This summer, the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education (ACHE) Research Institute Health & Wellness Center (RIHWC) expanded its hydroponic gardening efforts by equipping area teachers with the tools and knowledge to bring hydroponics directly into their classrooms.
"The Crop Plan is Determined by the Customer, Not by a Guess We Made Months Earlier"
Harvest London and Crate to Plate are trialling a platform designed to plan crop production from confirmed customer orders instead of forecasts, under a DEFRA-funded ADOPT project led by InnoPhyte Consulting. The deployment runs across Harvest London's Canada Water and Lea Bridge facilities and Crate to Plate's site in Canary Wharf.
Featured Farm: Meadowbrook Garden Club | Spring Valley, California
At Meadowbrook Apartments, growing fresh food is also growing curiosity, confidence, and connection.
Since 2023, the Meadowbrook Garden Club has been growing with a Flex Farm alongside the Heaven’s Windows team.