Tag: vertical farm

FarmBox Foods CEO Rusty Walker Among ‘Who’s Who in Ag’ in Colorado

We’re incredibly proud to announce that our CEO, Rusty Walker, is among the honorees for the Who’s Who in Agriculture awards for 2022. The annual award from the Denver Business Journal and Colorado Farm Bureau recognizes an industry leader’s accomplishments in helping to put food on our plates and generate nearly $50 billion in collective economic activity each year.

Rusty Walker, center, with two of FarmBox Foods’ founders, Tony English, left, and Jake Savageau.

Rusty is featured in the April 1 edition of the Denver Business Journal and was honored during a ceremony on March 31 at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House in Denver, alongside other deserving recipients.

Probably the coolest thing about this recognition is that two separate organizations decided to nominate Rusty unprompted. His influence and leadership are a big part of our success story, and we’re glad that people outside of the company see that.

 

Read more about Rusty Walker here

Proudest accomplishment of the past year?

Helping to feed people in areas of need, because no one should go hungry. I’m also proud of helping build a team at FarmBox that truly believes in our mission of empowering communities to grow their own food.

What impact has the pandemic had on your area of focus? 

Sourcing of materials has become more challenging, but the supply chain disruption has thrust local farming into the spotlight in a good way. Hyperlocal farming provides a secure source of food near the consumer without concern for delays related to supply chain issues. The disruption has brought to everyone’s attention how important having decentralized food production is. This disruption provides a unique opportunity for us to focus on a product that can have a meaningful impact. Our farms have come about at an opportune time to bring attention to just how vulnerable we were as a society.

What would you say is the biggest challenge Colorado’s agricultural industry faces today?

Drought conditions would have to be up there. It’s become so much harder for farms to thrive because of weather and climate impacts. Water shortages are a real thing, and we have something that can be part of the solution. Colorado is in a precarious position for a number of reasons and our farms enable people to conserve this important resource. We can help farmers who are struggling with uncertainty and provide a reliable, secure source of nutritious food.

What could the state of Colorado do better to fix it?

Incentivize alternative methods of farming that decrease risk of crop loss, reduce water usage, and have less impact on the environment. We have been embraced by the farming community because we provide a lifeline that enables farmers and ranchers to grow food year-round, and especially during times in which weather negatively affects crop yields. What we’re up against is out of our control, but we provide the ability to focus on things that are in our control.

What’s one thing you wish Coloradans understood about your job that most don’t?

Even though we’re a for-profit company, we’re very much a mission-driven organization. That means people and their right to food security doesn’t get lost in the decision-making process. We’re very intentional about how we have grown, and how we operate, and that’s been key to our success. There are few industries that controlled-environment agriculture doesn’t fit into, and so it’s figuring out where we can have the most impact.

When I was asked to be CEO, it was a blessing. It was taking on the responsibility of carrying on that blessing and all of its challenges, and we have a purpose-driven mission that’s not taken lightly. Anytime you have an opportunity to carry out a purpose like this, you have to know that this is much bigger than myself or this company, because we have something that can have a huge effect on the world. The importance of that is not lost on me or the FarmBox team.

What trends are you watching in your field in 2022? 

We try to take a broad look at trends related to how impactful our farms are in the communities that our farms serve. It’s measuring the impact of our farms in communities where they’re placed, and how that affects those communities, coordinating with local organizations, including 501c3s, in getting these farms where they need to go.

What advice do you have for young professionals in your field?

Continue exploring ways to do more with less by using science and tech to solve concrete problems facing the world. Continued improvement is part of our culture, and I find that’s the best way to go about your professional and personal life. I also think you should never go it alone. You should work on being a team player and surround yourself with people who want to achieve a goal together, and go at it in a selfless way.

What do you do in your free time?

I love to spend time with my family, read, exercise, golf and just enjoy life in Colorado.

Container Farms on School Campuses – Community Supported Agriculture

With a foundation in technology and science, there’s greater interest in container farming among students of all ages. Controlled-climate farming enables people to grow food almost anywhere in the world, helping to eliminate food deserts.

Container Farms on School Campuses – School districts and teachers are always looking for new and innovative tools to capture their students’ attention and promote enthusiasm for learning.

Teaching students how their education is interwoven into later professional success just might bring purpose to those who currently find none in a traditional classroom.  When you place students in a setting with engaging hands-on projects that give them practical experience, the potential for future success is limitless.

An operating container farm has a unique ability to touch multiple subjects and areas of interest for young students, especially those who want to find ways to better our world through science and tech.  A container farm shows the next generations how to do more with fewer resources by engineering concrete solutions that promote sustainability.  These applications have positive real-world implications, including improving our ability to feed people in food deserts and reducing the use of fossil fuels for shipping food over long distances.

Emerging technologies, including those that rely on sensors, have opened up new avenues and ideas and solutions for longstanding problems.  This is an exciting prospect for a generation that increasingly is looking to eschew the typical 9-to-5 office grind and, for lack of a better term, get their hands dirty.

From using cultivation methods that require less energy and water, to developing a solid business plan, to maintaining the mechanisms that enable containerized farms to thrive, to demonstrating and quantifying the sustainability of such operations, there are many skill sets needed to make the endeavor a success.  

Adding a container farm to a school campus offers high-level learning opportunities in perpetuity and equips students with expertise and experience that few other young professionals or college applicants can claim.  It’s a tech-driven differentiator for schools and districts that pride themselves on thinking outside the educational box, and it could produce a wave of future entrepreneurs.

Today, container farming is a glimpse into the future.  Soon, it will be the new normal, and it’s time that students of all ages get introduced to concepts that can help achieve progress that will benefit humankind.

What are the benefits to schools?

  1. Equipping future generations with the ability to use science and technology to grow food for underserved populations.
  2. Feeding students fresh, nutrient-dense foods. 
  3. Reducing costs associated with purchasing transported foods while enabling schools to cheaply grow their own.
  4. Providing foods for students in need to take home with them so they will have quality food they grew themselves.
  5. Create revenue streams for the school through school farmers markets all year long.
Container Farms on School Campuses
An operating container farm has applications to almost every school subject imaginable, from math to science to engineering.

View The FarmBox Gourmet Mushroom Container Farm


View Mushroom Farm

Food Waste Could Soon Be a Thing of the Past

Container farming near the consumer can help reduce food waste.

A 2010 assessment by the USDA’s Economic Research Service put food waste at the retail and consumer levels at 31 percent of the food supply, equaling approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food. It’s mind-boggling stats like this that leave us with one burning question: Why?

Given our integrated systems and ability to identify efficiencies in the supply chain, it’s hard to fathom how this has come to be. How can this much food be wasted, when there are so many who struggle for access to nutritious food?

Communities are starting to learn that they can take control of their own food supply. Farming year-round in upcycled shipping containers has vegetables growing right in the community they serve, so instead of lettuce (for example) withering away on a truck or in a distribution center, it’s being put on a plate the day it’s harvested. 

Talk about decentralization has ramped up in the face of a global supply chain break that has companies and shoppers scrambling. Those who struggled with access to farm-fresh produce prior to the pandemic are much worse off, and there are few signs that the issues are relenting. Meanwhile, food is being wasted at record levels in American homes and restaurants.

So what can be done to reduce the amount of food waste in America? It’s going to take collaboration, innovation and a new way of thinking about how food is sourced. Grocery stores can take a cue from Natural Grocers, which is now placing vertical hydroponic containers right behind their stores, cutting out transportation altogether.

Now, imagine if five businesses in an underserved community came together to buy a container farm: what would the impact be, and how many generations would be affected by a decrease in food insecurity? What if the city government helped facilitate this venture by revamping its code and permitting system to allow for more container farms? What if grant money could help pay for year-round growing operations in low-income areas?

Slowly but surely, it’s happening. The opportunity for further improvement is there for the taking, and assembling the right partners is key. 

The Natural Resources Defense Council is using its national Save the Food campaign to try and instill daily behaviors in consumers to put a dent in food waste. Go to https://www.nrdc.org/food-waste to learn more.

Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency has planning, storage and prep tips on its website to reduce food waste at home, which saves money, reduces methane emissions from landfills, and lowers one’s carbon footprint. Go to https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-wasted-food-home for more information.