Home Grown Produce in the Heart of the City

Images courtesy of Freight Farms

No Soil or Insecticides Required

Have you ever wished you could enjoy fresh, locally grown produce year-round, but weren’t sure where to find it? If you’re a city dweller, you could be in luck!

Thanks to small, self-contained “farms” called the Leafy Green Machine, vegetables and herbs like lettuce, kale, basil, oregano and mint can be grown all year, virtually anywhere in North America.

The Leafy Green Machine is the brainchild of Freight Farms, a company founded in 2010 by Brad McNamara (CEO) and Jon Friedman (President). As reported by CityLab.com, the idea was born from McNamara’s love for healthy produce as well as a desire to see languishing city spaces put to better use.

There’s an App for That

The Leafy Green Machine is basically an upcycled freight container turned into a hydroponic growing system. Now, an internet connection, access to potable water and electricity, along with a small investment (less than $100,000 to get started), are all you need to have your own “smart farm in a box.”

• Each 320-square-foot container is outfitted with 256 vertical growing towers and the technology to control light and water quality.
• It yields about an acre’s worth of food each year (approximately 4500 plants).
• Only 10 gallons of water a day is needed—an estimated 90% less than required by conventional growing methods.

Home-Grown, Closer to Home

According to the company’s website, “By decentralizing the food supply chain and bringing production closer to consumers, Freight Farms is drastically reducing the environmental impact of traditional agriculture and empowering any individual, community or organization to sustainably grow fresh produce year-round, no matter their location, background or climate.”

And because old freight cars are upcycled to create these unique farms, some of the problems associated with other small-farming methods are alleviated.

An Alternative to Rooftop

While rooftop greenhouse projects have been successful in bringing fresh produce to many inner-city areas, the permitting and design phases of those projects are time-consuming, and the specific needs of each site make them difficult to replicate. This all combines to make commercial-scale urban greenhouses quite expensive—often anywhere from one to two million dollars.

By contrast, the Leafy Green Machine costs $82,000 ($85k for the Premium model). Operating costs are estimated at about $13,000 a year for electricity, water and various growing and packaging supplies.

Interested in joining the ranks of freight farmers, like this one under I-93 in Boston? Check out FreightFarms.com to learn more!

People from all walks of life are discovering the joys of small-farming. How about you? Have you ever thought about running your own farm? We’d love to hear from you. Just leave us a comment below.

Resources:

• Freight Farms Website
• YouTube: Urban Farming With the Leafy Green Machine
• Treehugger: Leafy Green Machine is a complete urban farm system in a shipping container
• Shareable: 5 Innovative Solutions to Food Deserts
• CityLab: One Freight Crate, Two Acres of Urban Farming
• Boston Globe: b.good grows veggies under I-93
• B.Good: Veggie Jackson

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