
Freight Farms fundraising on Wefunder: Farm in a box - teeray
https://wefunder.com/freightfarms
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prawn
Could these one day be buried under houses like we once had cellars for cold
storage, wine, curing of meats, etc? Would make for fewer temperature
fluctuations - in an Australian summer, a shipping container would bake and
perhaps any excess heat from temperature control or lighting could be released
to heat the home above it?

"Honey, I'm just going down to the grow cellar to get herbs and pick spinach
for dinner."

Of course, it would also be a huge space saving. My house is on a 750sqm block
and I have a decent part of my garden allocated to growing vegetables (15+
types at any given time) and herbs (9-10 types). The ability to grow and share
more would reduce food miles amongst other advantages.

If the growing supplies arrived via a subscription service and some of the
power costs were offset by solar, the demand on hobby owners could be reduced
enough to make it viable for more than just small and medium scale farmers.

\---

Edit: Also, addition of aquaponics would complicate things, but might interest
some. If you're going to be controlling temperature already, might as well do
it for the fish too and cycle your water.

Not sure if they are using a Compactus _-type system to really pack in growing
space for the hydroponics, but if not that might be worth trying.

_ Like this: [http://www.desking-
systems.com.au/media/catalog/category/fil...](http://www.desking-
systems.com.au/media/catalog/category/file_1.JPG)

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ph0rque
What you've described is very similar to our AutoMicroFarm vision:
[http://blog.automicrofarm.com/post/23858061565/automicrofarm...](http://blog.automicrofarm.com/post/23858061565/automicrofarm-
vision)

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cickpass_broken
Definitely interesting, but would love to see some results other than leafy
greens and basil. From what I know (farmed in Vancouver, BC) neither have much
disease pressure, nor require much manual attention.

If an initial goal is to increase local produce for winter months in cooler
climates (than California) then seeing tomatoes, summer squash, and fruits
seems necessary. I think berries could be confined to the small space, but
what about fruit trees? I personally store (preserve or freeze) berries and
peaches to have in winter.

Kale and other leafy's can be over-wintered with much cheaper (to build and
operate) green or hoop houses – at least in the pacific northwest.

I understand they are in the MVP kinda stage, but to me, to see any potential
value I would need to know if fruit, tomatoes, summer squash can be done in
winter, as those require more heat, more sun, and have higher disease
pressure.

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rmason
Sorry but I am highly skeptical. I have been watching developments in this
area for forty years. There's an announcement made with amazing claims. You
follow up in a year and find the numbers always never worked out. I'd love to
see an audited statement of their first year results with one of these units.

It is easy to believe they've achieved some sort of breakthrough. But having
spent twenty plus years as an agronomist in a previous career I can tell you
there's only so much that you can do without bending the laws of physics.

~~~
fixxer
Any opinion on 300 bu/acre corn?

~~~
rmason
Its been done in several states using small plots including here in Michigan.
We're eventually going to get there in whole fields, primarily through rapid
improvements in seed genetics and a focus on yield zones as opposed to grid
soil sampling.

FYI I had breakfast years ago with the late Herman Warsaw and he was one of
the most inspiring people I've ever known.

[http://www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/farm-journal-
dec85-herman...](http://www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/farm-journal-dec85-herman-
warsaw)

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atourgates
This looks really interesting - but I had couple questions I couldn't find
answers to.

The FAQ mentions that the annual operating cost is about $12,000/yr, including
"growing supplies, electricity, water, and labor." What's the breakdown? I'm
kind of surprised, I'd expect electricity costs (for fully artificial light
and heating the container through the winter) to be much higher.

Also - is there a reason this is better than a greenhouse - where at most
you'd need to supplement light during the winter months, as opposed to
providing year-round artificial light for all the plant's needs?

And finally - the sentence: "LEDs don't put off heat" isn't true. Might want
to get that taken out.

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grannyg00se
The best advantage over a greenhouse seems to be stacking potential but that's
only an advantage where square footage is limited.

The FAQ on their site seems to gloss over the greenhouse comparison only
specifying the following: "It is more versatile, durable and cost effective
than traditional greenhouses, and, because of its uniform configuration, it is
a more efficient growing solution."

Uniform configuration? A greenhouse can be built in any configuration desired.
I'd like to see more detail in that comparison.

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krakensden
A greenhouse could, but you'd have to make a bunch of decisions and figure
things out by yourself. The nice thing about using standard shipping
containers is that lots of people have made the same decision, so there's lots
of knowledge and tech that works yesterday.

Losing out on all that free clean fusion energy seems like the biggest
weakness, to be honest.

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contingencies
Concerns:

(1) Hydroponic operations, long term, miss out on a lot of nutrients you
otherwise would have had (eg: B2).

(2) Sustainability. These things need significant power and labour inputs due
to the artificial, high density, monoculture nature of the crop. Why design
like this, when the world is not short on solar power and much of the real
wastage is in transport? (Even mentioned in the article)

Following this line of thought, what we really need is closer-to-nature,
closer-to-end-consumer solutions - ie. variety of non-monocultured plants in
dirt near plate. Good luck monetizing that one! (Note: not a serious
challenge; any and all disrespect to GM companies intended)

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leot
I want to see something like this but at the consumer level, for chickens, and
with an integrated compost. Inconvenience is the biggest obstacle keeping
people from turning their food waste into eggs.

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Shivetya
Inconvenience, well in most suburban areas zoning laws are far more effective
at keeping people from having any sort of food animals.

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dougk16
Wow, suitably impressed. I wonder if they got inspiration from marijuana
growers...always see busts in the news involving shipping containers.

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lquist
_WF: What are your margins?

FF: Approximately 50%._

Gross, EBITDA or other? There's a world of difference.

~~~
npt4279
Good catch. He meant gross margin. I'll see that it is fixed.

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umsm
Just a technical note: The last image mentions "iPad" when it's clearly an HP
:)

