If you want a way to extend your growing season, produce higher yields, and make your CSA special, a container farm can help.
You might not think a farm made from a repurposed shipping container will help your existing farm much.
But container farms have a lot to offer your existing CSA.
In this article, you’ll learn how adding a hydroponic container farm to your farm helps your CSA.
You wouldn’t be the first farmer to add a hydroponic setup to your field farm.
Stony Hill Farms in New Jersey and Sirna’s Farm in Ohio, are just two examples of traditional farms using hydroponics to supplement their CSA.
Both New Jersey and Ohio experience freezing winters that make traditional outdoor farming impossible from November to March.
By adding indoor hydroponic farms to their existing farms, they have found a way to extend the growing season.
Container farms are not subject to weather or season, because they grow indoors with a controlled environment.
The controlled environment monitors and regulates aspects like temperature to create ideal conditions.
This allows you to plant crops both earlier and later in the season.
Or even during the coldest part of winter!
As a result, you’re able to keep your CSA running as long as you want.
Plus, the climate-control features of a container farm let you minimize some of the risk that comes from planting outdoors.
Typically, if the season is unusually cold, hot or rainy, it’d spell trouble for your crops.
But with a container farm, your crops are protected from the elements.
Plus, being indoors means pests, like weeds, insects or animals, are less likely to destroy your plants.
So, you can rest assured knowing that you’ll always have options for your customers.
Even if you lose a lot of your outdoor crops!
Additionally, nutrients for field crops are often lost in runoff from heavy rain and irrigation.
But since hydroponic plants are given the nutrients directly to their roots, no nutrients are lost.
So, hydroponic plants grow healthier and stronger.
Because they get so many nutrients and perfect growing conditions, hydroponic crops also grow faster.
So, you won’t have to worry about being without a certain type of crop for long.
Stony Hills Farm says their indoor hydroponic plants grow 30% to 50% faster than their outdoor field crops!
Container farms also use vertical farming to grow crops in stacks rather than horizontal.
This allows you to grow more crops per square foot than you could outdoors.
Because your crops are protected, grown in perfect conditions, grown vertically, and given more nutrients, your yields are much higher than you’d expect from just 320 square feet!
In fact, one Pure Greens Container Farm yields up to 400 pounds of produce each month, depending on your chosen crop.
A container farm also helps you broaden your selection of produce.
You can grow out-of-season, exotic and luxury crops for your CSA with a container farm.
This helps you expand your selection and make it stand out against other local CSAs.
You can also stand out by offering tours and classes to show off your high-tech farm to your members.
This gives you a special attraction and helps you keep members coming back!
Afterall, CSAs that encourage shareholder participation on the farm retain more members.
If you want to learn more about container farms, check out our website or call 602-753-3469.
