Whether it’s to help solve food insecurity or save the earth, farm pods are a cutting-edge solution to many of the negatives associated with traditional agriculture.
In this article, you’ll learn all about farm pods.
Farm pods are mobile, compact farms made inside of repurposed shipping containers.
A farm pod is also known as a container farm, boxcar farm, farm in a box and agriculture box, along with brand names.
These farms use vertical farming techniques to grow large volumes of crops in a small space.
Vertical farming includes growing crops vertically, on shelves or towers, instead of only growing horizontally.
Vertical farming works best with soil-less growing systems, so farm pods use those too.
Soil-less systems include hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics.
These systems all use water to deliver nutrients to their crops instead of soil.
In hydroponics, the water is combined with a fertilizer, called the nutrient solution.
In aeroponics, this nutrient solution is delivered to roots in the form of mist instead of water.
In aquaponics, the water is fertilized by fish, which get their swimming water purified by the plants.
All of these systems reduce the amount of space needed to grow crops.
Because farm pods are indoor spaces, they’re prime candidates for controlled environment agriculture (CEA).
CEA controls various factors of the growing environment in order to create perfect growing conditions.
This allows farmers to grow crops year-round with no concern for weather, climate, or season.
As a result, yields are bigger, and farmers can fill unmet market demand.
The CEA, vertical farming features and size of farm pods also make them a great choice for urban farming.
This leads to closer proximity to consumers, increased accessibility to healthy food in food deserts and stronger communities.
Growing in a windowless container, sounds like it could be challenging.
But indoor farms have successfully been using artificial light to grow crops for many years.
Instead of using the sun, farmers use artificial light to grow crops in farm pods.
For example, our Pure Greens Container Farms, which are crafted from ISO ocean shipping containers, use 5500K White LED bulbs, producing 5100 lumens of full spectrum light.
LEDs use less energy, but provide more light than fluorescent bulbs.
Keeping energy usage in mind, helps keeping energy bills down.
Farm pods are sustainable alternatives to traditional farming, for a few reasons.
First, since they don’t use soil, they can’t contribute toward soil erosion.
Soil erosion is a serious problem that is quickly accelerating.
At our current rate, we will lose all of our farmland by 2074.
Additionally, farm pods save water!
Hydroponic farms use only 1/10th of the amount of water that field farms use.
This is because water in hydroponics systems is not lost to evaporation or run off and can be captured and recirculated through the system.
Plus, since food can be grown much closer to consumers than with traditional methods, food doesn’t have to travel as far, saving time, money and energy.
These farms are great for individuals, looking to start a business and for already existing organizations.
Their uses range from selling at farmers’ markets, to giving students hands-on learning experiences, to supplying food for the company cafeteria.
Some people buy shipping containers for the sole purpose of converting them into farms, while others have them in their possession already.
But you don’t need to be handy to start your own container farm.
Our premade farms come ready for operation.
If you’re interested in starting a farm pod, look no further.
Our Pure Greens Container Farms are equipped with recirculating nutrient film technique (NFT) and deep floating technique (DFT) hydroponic systems, lights, and automated CEA technology that’s controlled through a smartphone app.
For more information on how to get started, call us at 602-753-3469 or visit our website.
