Storage containers have a bunch of awesome uses such as homes, restaurants, helping preserve coral reefs and the latest, 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 Storage Container Farming?
Using any shape or size of shipping container, you can create a container food production system virtually anywhere in the world. This wacky twist on farming was designed to overcome some challenges like weather, bugs and importing.
Since produce won’t be imported if grown in a storage container it will be a lot fresher and there will be less waste and fewer empty shelves at the grocery store.
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 Storage Containers?
Growing produce in shipping containers allows year-round growth. Other benefits are using less water and not need to use pesticides. A bonus is, you are saving the environment by growing in your shipping container! Here are some added benefits to growing produce indoors:
- Save money: By using LED lights and whatever grow setup you’d like, these aeroponic shipping container ‘labs’ work just like a normal farm. You are also able to save money because animals/pests and weather are not able to damage your crops.
- Space saver: storage containers are usually about 20 to 40 feet long. They are just big enough to hold all your favorite vegetables and fit just about anywhere outside!
- Save the planet: a shipping container food production system will reduce your footprint. You are recycling a shipping container and using it to produce food!
- Mobile: every shipping container is completely customizable and mobile. Don’t like where your farm is sitting? Move it! Want to ship your farm somewhere else? Ship it!
- Accessible food: growing produce in a storage container gives you first-class access to fresh leafy greens. With container farming, you can grow your farm anywhere.
Be creative! It’s your farm, take care of it and design it how you want!
Starting your own Farm
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.
The desert isn’t an ideal place to start a farm outside. The soil isn’t rich and the weather is unpredictable. This is why shipping containers are so ideal for the desert! Create your own ecosystem inside the safe walls of a storage container!
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.
Inside you can customize your walls with installations such as sprinkler systems, hydroponic devices, electrical lighting, and temperature regulators. Not only are storage container farms eco-friendly, but they also have a different and unique look and in some cases, your storage container farm can save you a trip to the supermarket!
Create your Own Storage Container Farm
Now that you’ve heard all the super-cool benefits of storage container farms, it’s time to start your own! Storage on Wheels has so many storage containers for sale! Look into some of our home storage solutions and get a jump on your storage container farm!
