We’ve learned that there isn’t much you can’t do with shipping containers! From building to storing, a used shipping container can be refurbished and repurposed for all sorts of purposes. We’ve seen shipping container buildings, like homes and restaurants, but now, they have an even better purpose; shipping container farming! Portable shipping container food production is making waves in the world of aeroponic systems and it’s so easy, anyone can start their own garden!
What is a Shipping Container Farming?
Using any shape or size of shipping container, you can create a container food production system virtually anywhere in the world. The convenience benefits the aspects of farming like time, grow numbers, and growth control. It’s basically farming made easy!
Shipping container farming can use a variety of methods to allow proper plant growth and gestation. The most common method of farming is hydroponics. Companies like CropBox and Square Roots operate hydroponic vertical farms within shipping containers.
Why use shipping containers?
Not only do you get to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables all year long with shipping container farming, but you’re also doing a lot to save the environment. Here are the many benefits of using shipping containers to produce food in whatever style you’d like.
- Saving money – Using LED lights and your typical grow setup, these aeroponic shipping container labs work just like any growing system. The obvious added benefit is money. You can save money by converting a shipping container to a grow lab.
- Minimal space requirement – Shipping containers usually are about 20 to 40 square feet long of space: big enough to be a vegetable container garden, but small enough to fit just about anywhere outdoors or even in a lot of cases, indoors!
- Preserve the planet – A shipping container food production system will decrease your footprint. That’s right, not only are you recycling a big piece of metal that no longer serves a purpose in the shipping department, but you are literally adding “green” into the world with your plants.
- Amazing mobility – The best part about shipping container food production is that your farm, lab, or garden is fully customizable and mobile. Since we all know how easy it is to customize shipping containers and how versatile their design is, shipping container farming is quite ideal.
- Access to food – Shipping container gardens have offered a new way for people to have access to fresh produce and leafy greens. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. With container farming, they are given the option to plant a hydroponic garden just about anywhere.
That’s right, with a little bit of creativity, you can build a fully-functional garden.
Starting a Shipping Container Garden
The first shipping container farmer was Ben Greene, a man who came up with The Farmery. His process of creating a shipping container garden utilizes both aquaponics and hydroponics. The purpose of this project is to bring the freshest produce to urban areas where growing a garden may be a little bit more difficult. Urban areas also, typically, have issues finding the freshest produce.
If you live in the desert, you know the soil and unpredictable weather are not the best for planting. If you want to grow food, you’ll need to create your own ecosystem separate from the arid, windy Mojave climate. Some people relish the idea. You have control over what is and is not in your plants, which is especially nice if you plan on eating them.
Shipping containers are modular, meaning you can combine them in a number of ways. You can place them next to each other to create larger square footage, or you can stack them on top of each other to save even more space.
You can customize shipping container walls and doors as well, allowing for installations like:
- Electrical lighting and computerized panels
- Sprinkler systems
- Hydroponic devices
- Temperature regulators
Not only that, but storage container gardens look cool. You can impress your friends and family with the decorative exterior. Shipping containers provide the plant with protection from intruders and roaming animals. In addition, storage container gardens can save you trips to the grocery store!
Make Your Own Indoor Farm
Interested in starting your own shipping container farm? Storage on Wheels has so many containers for sale, you can find any use for them. Check out our home storage solutions and get started on your vegetable garden!
