Modular farms solve many of the challenges associated with traditional agriculture. You can grow produce in an environment that can be customized for various crops. You can place them wherever there is water, power, an internet connection and a desire for fresh, nutritious produce. In this article, you’ll learn about modular farms and the benefits that make them more appealing to anyone interested in the future of food production.
Modular Farms Can Be Anywhere
Modular farms can grow crops in a wide variety of locations. From hot climates to cold environments, container farms are flexible enough to move from one place to another. This makes growing food much easier to close to highly populated urban areas and remote locations with little farmland. Imagine a modular farm located in the parking lot of your local supermarket, where you could buy produce harvested that day. As a result, container farmers can work with the community to lower food insecurity and fill holes in food deserts by making fresh produce accessible.
In addition to these benefits, you can stack two modular containers, and the stack will maintain structural integrity. If you don’t have much space at your preferred location, you can place a modular farm on top of another for added vertical space. This also makes it easy to add more farms if needed since you won’t have to buy more land to expand on, as you would if you purchased a warehouse farm or another type of hydroponic farm.
Modular Farms Can Grow Various Crops
With the help of indoor farming technology, container farms can grow many different types of plants. This includes leafy vegetables, herbs, microgreens, flowers, fruiting plants and houseplants. To do this, modular farms use soilless farming methods, like hydroponics. Hydroponics is a growing technique that reduces water consumption while accelerating growth.
The benefit of a container farm is that a variety of crops can be grown on the same farm. You might have basil on the top layer, jalapeños growing in the middle layer, and strawberries down on the bottom. All share a similar temperature range and can be grown together in the same climate-controlled space.
Modular farms with controlled environment agriculture technology can change the air temperature, humidity and Co2 levels. This allows them to grow a variety of crops at high efficiency.
Growing crops across multiple layers is a benefit of a modular farm. With CAE climate control, a wide variety of crops can be grown inside the same container.A Controlled Growing Area
Typically, field farms need a large plot of land to grow enough produce to sell for profit. Hydroponics combined with vertical farming allows modular farms to grow a commercial amount of food in only 320 square feet. Since modular farms grow in a contained space, they have much more control over the growing environment. Advanced controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology allows farmers to control all aspects of the growing environment.
For example, air and water temperatures, humidity and carbon dioxide levels are all controllable with CEA. A skilled farmer is still essential to any growing operation, but with technology like this, the barrier to entry has never been lower. This helps the farm minimize losses from weather or pests, which can be challenges that make or break an upstart farm. Pests alone can cause field farms to lose 30 percent of crop yields.
Due to the contained nature of modular farms, they are less likely to struggle with pest problems than traditional farms. With regular maintenance and humidity control, they can be a solid deterrent to even the trickiest of pests.
You Can Grow Without Pesticides
Since CEA reduces the threat of pest interference, modular farmers grow crops organically without chemical pesticides. That makes it safer for consumers and farm workers inside container farms. You can learn more about the dangers of pesticides by reading our Ultimate Guide to Pesticides.
Pure Greens Modular Farms
As you can see, modular farms are a great alternative to traditional outdoor farming. They offer a secure, portable growing area that can be easily expanded for more efficient production.
At Pure Greens, we sell a model of a modular farm that we’ve designed to maximize yields. We call these container farms. These unique modular farms are housed inside a shipping container. With our hydroponic systems, you can grow healthy produce in a space as small as a parking space. If you want to start your own sustainable, compact, portable farm, contact us now for more information.
