7.4 │ Green Collar Farms Founder:
Brian Harris
Location:
Grand Rapids, MI
Date:
2016
Use:
Controlled Environment Agriculture
Brian Harris works in Grand Rapids, MI out of a renovated refrigeration container. The 350 sf container houses an urban garden, producing leafy greens like kale, lettuce, and pak choi. These vegetables are grown hydroponically, yielding a harvest every 7-8 weeks. An amount equivalent of a traditional, 1.5-2 acre farm. With year round harvests, within this one shipping container, Brian produces substantially more produce that he could in traditional methods, without the use of pesticides, herbicides, biocides, and fertilizers. Not to mention the fact that he used 5% of the water of traditional farming methods, which use 70% of the consumed water annually. Using coconut husks as a growing medium, for the seeds to germinate in, he then places the seedlings in tubes. The tubes are hung from the ceiling of the container vertically in rows. Within the container blue and red lights provide about 16 hours of light for the plants each day. Using LED lights on the PAR spectrum (red and blue), the plants are able to thrive in the controlled environment, supplying greens to local restaurants.29
Fig. 134 -
Fig. 135 -
Green Collar Farms
124 │ Urbanizing Agriculture: Cultivating the City
GCF - Benefits