Container farms are extremely versatile assets.
That’s one of the best things about them!
Research labs are just one of the many ways, container farms can be used.
In this article, you’ll learn why container farms make great research labs.
Research labs have a few central qualities that make them great, according to one article in research journal Nature.
For one, they use new approaches for training researchers.
Since container farms are still a fairly new technology, your students or researchers, will probably need special training on how to successfully operate one.
This gives you the opportunity to use new approaches to implement that special training.
Great labs also use new methods of producing scientific knowledge.
Since container farms don’t grow crops in the traditional ways, your lab is a great place to try out new methods and see what results you get.
Plus, a great research lab promotes excitement around an emerging scientific field.
Indoor farming, controlled environment agriculture (CEA), vertical farming and hydroponics are hot topics right now, with so much new research and technology developing.
Container farms also make great research labs because they allow for cross disciplinary research.
On first glance, you might think one would only be useful for crop science.
But researchers can study water, light, nutrients, engineering, climate and sustainability too!
Additionally, two important aspects of lab design are workspace and safety.
Luckily, container farms are designed to be worked in, since farmers need to have easy access to every crop.
Plus, there aren’t many, if any, dangerous tools, equipment or chemicals in container farms.
So you can be sure that your researchers are safe.
When it comes to the research side of things, you can easily perform experiments on your crops inside a container farm.
Since container farms are indoors and use CEA technology, your plant subjects are protected from unpredictable factors you’d find outside, like bad weather or harmful insects.
This gives you greater control over the experiment.
Here’s a simple example.
Say you’re researching what concentration of nutrient solution makes basil grow the fastest.
You can keep the air and water temperatures, humidity, light intensity and length, carbon dioxide level, pH and just about every other factor constant.
As a result, you’ll be sure that your results are due to changing the nutrient solution concentration and nothing else.
Some colleges are already using container farms as research labs for students.
For example, The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina started three container farms.
Two of the container farms, teach students how to grow crops in a controlled indoor setting.
And in the corresponding class, students design and build their own equipment for use in the third container.
And at Texas State University, a container farm is used as a research lab for the school’s EverGreen program.
The lab allows students to research all topics related to developing a container farm.
As a result of working with the EverGreen Lab, students have won awards, fellowships and employment opportunities.
As you can see, container farms are great research labs for a variety of studies.
To learn how you can start your own container farm research lab, call 602-753-3469 or visit our website.
