A VC in Vacationland

local food madness (Photo credit: Mike Gogulski)

Well, I admit it, this is not really a supply chain company, but Freight Farms does solve a problem–recycling those old ocean containers who blot our landscape into urban vegetable farms. Take one well used 40 foot container, add plastic-and-foam growing channels on the walls, an irrigation system on the ceiling and LED grow lights and voila! you have an urban greenhouse for year around crops of lettuce, tomatoes and peppers.

The founders, Brad McNamara and Jon Friedman, hope to sell the produce to local restaurants and the fully equipped containers to other restaurants who want their own food production capability. Some restaurants already use their rooftops to grow food and many others have their own gardens, like Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine. Freight Farms is one of several start ups (see also Lufa Farms and Higher Ground Farms) looking to bring food production to the heart of the city by leasing space to grow food on a commercial scale, selling to distributors, restaurants and consumers. Cheap natural gas is also leading to a boom in year around greenhouse operations, such as Backyard Farms in Madison, Maine, who focus on serving regional markets twelve months a year.

Such local food production options do have significant supply chain benefits for consumers–lower transportation costs, less pollution, and less waste since spoilage can run up to 60% in long haul supply lines. Ideal locations might be bakeries, who produce a lot of waste heat in the baking process that can keep the containers/greenhouse warm in the winter.

Freight Farms has raised over $30,000 on kickstarter from 98 "investors", using the money to build the proof of concept container. They plan to sell a basic container, fully equipped to grow food, at around $40,000, with Freight Farms providing a remote monitoring service and growing advice from gardening experts.

Of course, addressing local regulations, satisfying NIMBY neighbors and finding strong rooftops are all issues that must be overcome before one can install a rooftop or parking lot container farm. Trish Karter, founder of Dancing Bear Baking Company and now CEO of LightEffect Farms has spent many months looking for a site, only to have the neighbors veto the farm container on the roof of a car wash.

But I love the idea of locally grown food. New Englanders relish summer because that is the only time we can eat tomatoes that were not "strip mined in Texas".  Local, year around farming is a trend that will continue.  Whether anyone will make any money doing it is another question.