As we were talking in the previous blog post about Container Farms, they might be the future of farming if everyone wants to have fresh produce next to their house of course. Canada wants to spend $150 million each year with Canadian farmers till 2025, to help farmers implement growing techniques that will enable them to produce fruits and vegetables in Canada, instead of importing all the time. More companies are growing produce in plant shipping containers through the use of hydroponics and aeroponics ( methods of growing plants without the use of soil ).
What steps you need to get going?
1 – Acquire a regular Shipping Container – Getting a 20ft shipping container should be easy. You would prefer a new one , just because old used ones might be to affected by rust and would need more care overall, but if you are handy, a used one would do just fine, it all comes down to the price of course. ( You can check a Shipping Container Price for your area HERE and order one ).
2 – Choose the crop you want to go with and see what is the best equipment and software solutions out there – see what is most valued produce or crop in your area and see if you can do it. For example growing strawberries in a desert environment, or other fruits or veggies, that are rare in that specific area you’re living in or in the neighboring states
3 – Buy hardware and software – you should buy the shelving, and all that is about hardware you would need to get it set up, and of course get a computer and software to run the farm for you or you can just do it yourself, depending on how much you’re ready to invest and how good you are with farming. You could hire a specialist team to get it done for you and manage it as well. ( we searched for a few and you can find plenty on the market, so find the closest to you and whichever gives you most benefits, including a training on how to run the farm. Freight Farms seem to be having most of the solutions handy and ready to help you. ( we just checked their website and seems they have it going on, we recommend to do your own research and see whichever company is better for you )
4 – Find a way to ship them to the grocery stores, restaurants or families interested in your produce – see if you need to hire a company to pack and ship your produce, but to save money and cut some extra costs, you could do that yourself if you live in a small community and you’re target is that area, or you can think large and see who can help you in the area.
This is an idea how easy is to harvest lettuce from one of the shipping container farm companies out there Grow Pods Solutions ( again, we just looked at their website and we saw they have a very good variety of solutions for you, but always check them yourself and see whichever is the best for you )
Container Farms can be considered part of the Controlled Environment Agriculture, because they provide the optimal conditions necessary for the crops to thrive throughout their development, in a controlled environment, allowing farmers to have much better overlook of the essential factors: growing speed, flavor, freshness and many other particularities of the crops that are being grown inside. Also this allows the higher quality food to be grown closer to where it will be consumed, in a sustainable way that uses less amount of resources.
– Temperature – plants especially are very sensitive to the climate changes, and especially to temperature change, so they always need an ideal temperature to boost their growth
– Humidity – there is a tight bond between temperature and humidity, they’re both key factors in a plant development, so it’s essential that is well controlled for the best health for your plants
– Carbon Dioxide ( CO2 ) – together with light, CO2 helps in the photosynthesis of the plants, so together in plant growth
– Light – most of the pods involve artificial light, from LED, that can have different levels of brightness, color and timing, for the benefit of your crops
– Nutrients – can be delivered to the plants, either through the water, spray or soil, the farmer being in control of the composition, concentration and pH of the nutrients delivered
Of course we can talk about different types of Controlled Environment Agriculture, since every plant can grow, develop and be more productive in different environment, under different factors that influence it’s health and well being. In the pods, you will have a precisely metered, sealed and computer controlled facility for the environment of your crops.
– Hydroponics – most popular method, you can grow plants without soil, either having the roots directly suspended in nutrient-filled water or roots being in an inert medium like gravel and receiving nutrients through water
– Aeroponics – it is similar to hydroponics, but the plant’s roots are suspended in air and receive the nutrient-filled water by being regularly sprayed with a fine mist
– Aquaculture – it involves farming of aquatic plants and animals ( like algae and fish ) under controlled conditions, for either eating or as a hobby for decorative fish tanks or Aqua scaping
– Aquaponics – it is a combination between first and first type, that involves aquatic animals, bacteria and plants in a symbiotic mini ecosystem. For example you can grow fish that are fed special food, and whose excretions ( with the help of the bacteria ) are converted into plant nutrients that are given via hydroponic methods to the plants to grow
If this is the first time you hear about Controlled Environments Agriculture ( CEA ), you would be very surprised to find out that there is a lot of attention being given to this kind of agriculture, by not just the most famous universities around the country and the world, but by big companies and startups that start to raise funds and awareness around the globe, for that they might call it the future of agriculture. There is a lot of money and time being spent to understand and improve CEA. There are a lot of benefits to be gained by switching to CEA, like: Productivity, Flavor, Freshness, and many more that we would talk about in the next post about the Container Farms. Stay tuned and subscribe!
