Category: In the Community

CORE Electric, FarmBox Foods announce partnership to grow trees for reforestation​

CORE Electric, FarmBox Foods announce partnership to grow trees for reforestation

A groundbreaking reforestation program launched by CORE Electric Cooperative and FarmBox Foods is using innovation to achieve a new form of environmental stewardship.

 

On Nov. 17, the electricity provider finalized a contract with FarmBox Foods, a Colorado-based manufacturer of controlled-climate farms, to grow trees in a Vertical Hydroponic Farm housed inside an upcycled, insulated shipping container.  CORE plans to use the trees to rehabilitate forests within its service area, which covers 5,000 square miles along Colorado’s Front Range.

 

“CORE’s partnership with FarmBox to support reforestation efforts in our service territory advances our work to be responsible stewards of the environment,” said Jeff Baudier, CORE Electric Cooperative CEO. “As a member-owned cooperative, protecting the natural resources of the communities where we live and serve is a cornerstone of our mission.”

 

In the first three years of the initiative, CORE plans to plant 15,000 blue spruces and ponderosa pines, both native species in Colorado.FarmBox Foods began successfully growing tree seedlings and saplings in the controlled-climate container farm in 2021, but the Vertical Hydroponic Farm purchased by CORE is the first to be solely dedicated to tree propagation.  Under the terms of the agreement, FarmBox Foods will operate the indoor tree farm at its home base in Sedalia and conduct research on drought resistance, nutrient dosing, lighting and other growing parameters.  The trees will then be transferred to hoop houses to allow the root systems to grow out before being planted.

 

“We’re really excited to see the positive impacts that will come from this unique partnership,” said Rusty Walker, CEO of FarmBox Foods. “CORE recognizes its role in helping to maintain healthy forests and I think this is going to be a model for other electric cooperatives going forward.”

 

The partnership allows CORE to “play its part in keeping its service territory beautiful for generations of future members,” the cooperative said in a statement.  To keep powerline corridors safe and free of potential hazards, CORE responsibly removes vegetation.  It’s putting a renewed focus on rehabilitating areas that have been damaged by wildfires.

 

“This first-of-its-kind program exemplifies how CORE is leading the way to a more sustainable future and our mission of innovation,” said Amber King, communications manager for CORE.

 

CORE Electric, which supplies the energy that powers FarmBox Foods’ operating farms that grow nutritious produce in Sedalia, will work with local partners to identify areas in need of reforestation.

Tornado recovery driven by volunteers, sense of community

Scott and Melanie Walker have spent the last month helping neighbors recover from a deadly tornado that devastated Cambridge Shores, Kentucky, in December 2021.

Tornado recovery driven by volunteers, sense of community

tornado recovery - FarmBox Foods Donates

Tornado Recovery was needed – and Scott Walker was less than a mile away from his new home in Cambridge Shores, a community near Mayfield, Kentucky, when the local police turned him away.

If the officers hadn’t been there to block traffic coming into town, Scott would have been directly in the path of the deadly twister that passed through the night of Dec. 10. In fact, he’d already dodged three tornadoes in southern Illinois on his way there. 

Fate stepped in and saved him, and somehow, his house escaped with only minor damage, but many of his neighbors lost their homes. The devastation was almost incomprehensible. When emergency crews began clearing a path into affected areas, Scott was the 10th car in line, and was stunned by the scale of the damage.

Since then, Scott and his wife, Melanie, did what many others have done and joined an army of volunteers, which included those who’d lost everything, and pitched in where they could. When he returned to his hometown near Chicago, Scott rallied friends and family to donate goods. He brought down two full truckloads of supplies — toiletries, water, diapers, rakes, gloves, granola bars, flashlights, extension cords — and created a GoFundMe campaign for a new playground that literally hit its $4,000 goal as this video was being made. Henry Brothers Company, a general contractor in the Chicago area, donated an SUV full of supplies, and former students of the swim coach for the Lyons Township HS Aquatics program, and their parents, were instrumental in gathering relief supplies. Melanie has spent the last few weeks helping to distribute those supplies throughout the community.

Scott and Melanie, who purchased their home in Cambridge Shores in September, are just one example of the ongoing relief efforts in Kentucky and surrounding states, where 77 people were killed during the December rash of tornadoes. Even though they didn’t know their neighbors yet, Scott and Melanie quickly made friends with them, and they plan to be there for the long haul. 

“We love this place even more than when we bought our house because of how people are there for one another,” Scott said.

FarmBox Foods, a Colorado company for which his brothers serve as CEO and Chief Strategy Officer, donated a total of $750 toward the playground, and it’s hopeful that it can work with local, state and federal officials in the future on a solution for food security in disaster areas, which are often cut off from the food supply chain in the wake of a storm. FarmBox Foods builds automated farms inside shipping containers, and those container farms can provide a hyperlocal source of nutritious food. These mobile units and other innovations can help a community get back on its feet a little bit quicker, with healthy food to help power the long recovery ahead.

“It’s going to be a long process for our community. It’s been totally annihilated. Pictures can’t even tell the story,” he said. “We’re going to be here every step of the way.”

Christian Riders in Faith Donation Helps Feed People in Need

Christian Riders in FaithSometimes a helping hand goes a long way. On June 22, members of the FarmBox Foods team brought a dozen boxes of fresh-picked vegetables from one of its Vertical Hydroponic Farms to the Christian Riders in Faith Motorcycle Ministry in Denver. The ministry hands out boxes of food to those in need every other Tuesday, and in just the first 30 minutes, more than 50 boxes were given out.

There is a critical need for fresh produce in low-income areas, and FarmBox Foods was humbled to be involved in such a good cause. It was an example of one of the ways in which FarmBox Foods and its customers can partner with nonprofits to get nutritious food in the right hands. The kind people at Christian Riders in Faith M/M are truly on to something. They recognize the need in their community and work hard to provide a balanced selection of foods in the boxes they give out.