Brad Fourby is not your average Pittsburg, Kansas farmer. While he's harvested hundreds of heads of lettuce and produce on his farm, he rarely does so under the Kansas sun or on a John Deere tractor.
Instead, this native Californian turned Kansas farmer spends his time growing produce inside his 320 square-foot indoor hydroponic farm, Leafy Green Farms. In the case of Leafy Green Farms, that controlled setting used in hydroponic growing just so happens to be a shipping container. Leafy Green Farms utilize a vertical approach to their hydroponic farming, growing rows of crops from floor to ceiling in upright racks or towers down the length of the shipping container.
"We start everything in seed pods, and from there, we'll start placing them in the towers. We normally do 10 per tower," Brad Fourby said.
Each tower is roughly 6 inches in width with what's called a wick running down the center, which is essentially a piece of cloth around the plant that helps retain moisture for the plant. "We are 99% more water efficient than traditional. So we burn about two gallons of water a day," Fourby said.
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