Freight Farms announced a partnership with The University of Arizona Biosphere 2 to explore new ways of growing food in the face of environmental challenges threatening the global food system. This endeavor is part of Biosphere 2's larger initiative to advance the understanding of natural and human-made ecosystems through integrated research.
"At Freight Farms, we believe that a decentralized system of food production is essential to improving the resilience and security of food access globally," said Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms. "Growing hyper-local food year-round, by the community, for the community, is an important part of our collective future. This is why we make modular vertical farms that can be shipped and installed anywhere in the world, bringing the farm and the power of self-growing to communities of all kinds."
As the Freight Farms Greenery S container is being used by Biosphere 2 for research, it is also delivering fresh produce to the University of Arizona. In August, the first crop of lettuce grown in the container farm at Biosphere 2 was delivered to the University of Arizona Campus Pantry and the Impact of Southern Arizona community food bank. The crop included about 800 heads of red and green butter lettuce.
"We are excited to share our first crop to come out of the Freight Farms and Biosphere 2 collaboration," said John Adams, deputy director of Biosphere 2. "The Greenery S is the latest generation modular container farm that brings agriculture to a new dimension by growing and harvesting produce that is herbicide- and pesticide-free. This technology makes it possible to bring fresh food to an area where it might otherwise be impossible to grow and help to develop food systems for the future."
Freight Farms