Living in any city, you always cherish a bit of green. Any green. All of the green.
You squeal when you see the cash get spit out of the ATM, hug your dealer a little too tightly, and adore the feeling of grass between your toes.
And let's face it: it's practically magic to you that someone grew lettuce and now you're at the new Wegmans in Brooklyn buying it.
But, where does it come from? A cliche farm that you've seen a thousand times in the movies? What if it could come from somewhere else? Somewhere very local.
A new vertical farm is being created in an old steel mill in New Jersey, and when it is completed and fully operational, it could yield 2 million pounds of lettuce and other greens a year.
The 70,000 square-foot vertical farm is being created by AeroFarm. The company already has one of these innovative farms in Newark, and now their latest project will be in the same city.
The farm uses 95% less water than normal farms and uses no soil. Instead, it uses a blanket made from recyclable plastic. It also uses LED lights to grow the crop. Talk about being Earth-friendly.
Urban farming seems to be the next big thing. We already have some pretty insane rooftop farms that will make you wonder if you could do the same in your tiny apartment. And when you see the yearly progress of these farms it begs the question as to why we aren't doing this more.
Check out the video that gives you an inside look at the operation and the future of farming in urban environments.
[anad]
Check out 8 Phenomenal Farms You Probably Never Even Knew Existed in NYC.
[via Seeker Stories] [Feature Image Courtesy Aero Farms]