PRECEDENT: SQUARE ROOTS

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Square Roots has developed hydroponic farm “modules” installed in reclaimed shipping containers that can grow certain non-GMO vegetables 24 hours a day, without pesticides.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, a third of the entire world’s food supply is wasted. Square Roots, co-founded by Kimbal Musk (Elon Musk’s brother) and Tobias Peggs in 2017, wants to reduce waste by growing food as close to the consumer as possible.

The modules, which use software-controlled LED lighting and irrigation systems, can be set up in parking lots or even inside a large warehouse or industrial building, enabling a food maker to access fresh ingredients locally for use in their dishes.

Today they produce and supply a number of herbs and leafy greens to various supermarkets and suppliers, including mint, basil and other herbs.

PRECEDENT: GROWUP

Founded in 2013, GrowUp Urban Farms produce fresh fish and baby-leaf salads year-round in a controlled growing environment without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.

From 2015 to 2017, they operated "Unit 84" - a commercial-scale aquaponic urban farm. Based inside an industrial warehouse in Beckton, it combines aquaculture (farming fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in a nutrient solution without soil) in a recirculating system.

The company sells directly to local stores and restaurants, slashing transport costs and carbon-dioxide emissions associated with moving food over long distances.

They are currently using their expertise and knowledge from Unit 84 in working to design and develop a much larger farm, one that could be replicated all over the world.

FARM FACT

The average city could grow enough vegetables to meet the recommended vegetable intake if it devotes just 10% of its city limit area to urban farming