Introduction

Web surfing can take you to some deep places. It might start as an article on one of your favorite news site or an article that someone sends you via social media.  I had one of those sessions this summer and was caught in a web of cool ideas and innovation.  I’ve always had the passion for growing things, but the only channels I have able to utilize this was in my landscaping skills.  I came across an article about a company who is addressing the problems with traditional farming by creating a hydroponic farm.  Now that is not real news considering for decades people have been doing this in their backyards.  The real news here is that they are introducing a modular, scalable, and reusable packaging solution for these hydroponic farms: the growing waste pile of shipping containers.  You see China ships all of their goods to the US in these things and in most cases they never return.  They currently grow lettuces and microgreens and claim to be able to fit an acres worth of product into a standard 40′ x 8′ container and use 10% of the water and 2-3 times the yield than an acre of farming it traditionally using 100% artificial light.  With some remote monitoring technology, one person can manage it part time.  A farm in a box that can be delivered to your door.  Pretty cool.

Since then I have seen a lot of other cool innovative ideas, but this one I kept thinking about.  I’ve brought it up with my wife and friends.  I am sure my wife thinks I am obsessive at this point.  I have a technical background, but ZERO knowledge about hydroponics and the equipment involved.  I barely have any room in my house to work with but my wife has humored me on my new found quest.  Gotta start somewhere…