More and more companies are finding new and innovative ways to bring indoor agriculture to more areas. Freight Farms is one such company. It is recycling shipping containers and turning them into mobile farms.
Freight Farms’ co-founder and CEO Brad McNamara told ABC News, “The food system needs to be designed around technology and equipment that’s available today. It was designed 100 years ago without the right technology to reach the level that it needs to. The whole system needs to be modernized.”
With the company’s 320-square-foot Leafy Green Machine, farmers can produce a crop equivalent to an acre of farmland while using 90 percent less water as well as no pesticides. So far Freight Farms has sold 54 Leafy Green Machines, which cost $86,000 for this year’s model, plus an additional $8,000 to $16,500 annually for growing supplies, electricity and water, ABC News reports. Customers reportedly say that the benefits—which include ease of use, mobility and the ability to get the product to the customer quickly—outweigh the costs. However, industry experts told ABC News that the costs may mean small profit margins.
“Starting a farm is a lot to ask of one person,” Jon Friedman, Freight Farms co-founder and President told ABC News. “So we’ve put together a system that gives even a novice the tools to produce thousands of plants and get them to market.”
Click here for more about Freight Farms’ Leafy Green Machine.
