COLORADO – A company based in a Denver suburb turns up-cycled shipping containers into vertical hydroponic farms and claims the containers can create as much as two football fields worth of traditional agriculture.
Even in some of our nation’s busiest cities, there are serious food deserts - places where people live a half-mile or more with no access to fresh food at a supermarket.
But in the Denver suburb of Sedalia, Colorado, Farmbox Foods believes they have a solution.
We don’t use pesticides, we use nutrients. and I think the biggest thing that we have going for us is we use 3 to 5 gallons of water a day,” said Rusty Walker, of CEO Farmbox Foods.
A container behind a natural grocer in Lakewood, Colorado now controls their supply chain and fills their produce section.
“So this wall right here has been growing for about seven weeks, almost 50 days now, and it’s ready to go,” said Michael Boardman, Gardenbox manager, Natural Grocers.
One of the typical criticisms of vertical farming is the limitation on the variety of food that can be produced, but Farmbox Foods says they have been testing carrots, potatoes, and radishes - providing more options for healthy, fresh produce.