GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Imagine growing food indoors without water, sun or soil - and making a decent living doing so.
Green Collar Farms vertical crops
Green Collar Farms LLC says it is West Michigan's first indoor hydroponic, vertical micro farm. That's a 350-square-foot operation inside a re-purposed shipping container, located at 530 Second Street NW in Grand Rapids. Green Collar Farms was founded by Brian Harris, who says vertical farming is a sustainable enterprise that has the potential to grow local food and provide middle income-level jobs in urban areas.
"The ultimate goal," says Harris, "is that a person could make a middle-income living out of the crops that go to your local farm-to-fork restaurant, and groceries." He believes that could help grow a community's vitality, not just grow crops. Under-used spaces like vacant warehouses or dormant garages and basements could be transformed into vertical farms.
The hydroponic farming uses L.E.D. technology that Harris says is 60 percent more efficient, per watt used, than sunlight. How can the plants grow inside a container with no sunlight? Harris says plants "see" light differently than people, who mostly observe it in yellows, greens and oranges. But plants see sunlight in red and blue, and interpret it in terms of radiation. So, the L.E.D.s that are used inside the shipping container are a red-and-blue combination. "So, it gives the plant the little bit of blue it needs to have to wake up in the morning. And the red is really what makes it stretch."
Green Collar Farms uses automated Controlled Environment Agricultural (CEA) techniques to operate year-round, regardless of season. It can produce hyper-local greens and herbs with a yield equal to the output of a traditional two-acre farm - while using only 10 percent of the water. Green Collar is supplying hydroponic greens like kale, leaf lettuces and herbs to select restaurants in Grand Rapids. And Harris plans to expand distribution to local grocery stores, markets and even school cafeterias.
He figures that will benefit students. And that the L.E.D. technology will attract and introduce them to hydroponic vertical farming: "I think if you bring some kids in here, and they see these lights, it's like Star Wars. And I think at that point, I've got them where I can start talking to them about the biology of plants. Start talking to them about engineering. Introduce them to the 'what ifs' of innovation." He says that spark an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as well as plant biology, agriculture and nutrition.
Harris envisions upscaling the vertical-farm concept up to 20,000 square feet, boosting the crop output significantly. He says that will really produce jobs: "At that point...you're starting to employ hyper-local residents. You can introduce food (for) the under-served community. The idea here is, if we scale this up to the inner-city to provide them local jobs...".
However, Harris recognizes that the indoor vertical farming has its limitations. "So, you're not going to grow wheat, corn, barley...this is not an apple orchard...but there are lots of field crops that are grown in muck farms or other soil environments that are not necessarily optimal for the environment. You could bring those in to hyper-local. Because they're typically consumed hyper-local."
