Square Roots Farm Tobias Peggs

High Tech Farming

Square Roots Farm Tobias PeggsSolving the problems and challenges of providing highly nutritional food is not easy, there is a complex relationship between food, health, economics and the environment. Several urban farmers in the Greater New York Area are taking on the challenge. One such business is Square Roots Urban Growers, Brooklyn.  Square Roots grows highly nutritious leafy plants out of customized and super clean containers. Square Roots has 10 container farms. Container farms can be placed in the center of cities where fresh produce is limited.

There are several other urban farmers who are exploring the meaning of farm fresh. Another farmer, Jason Green, Edenworks grows fresh produce and fish protein on his Brooklyn-based warehouse farm. Jason sees a helpful and healthy relationship between leafy green plants and fish. He worked hard to explore and calculate these eco-systems so that why can work conjointly with each other.

Other urban farm entrepreneurs who are solving problem fresh produce in urban environments are:

It may be surprising at how many places in US are food deserts, and unable to produce fresh produce. This interactive map created by the USDA ERS gives a picture of where these places are in the U.S.

It was only 2012 when I worked on a project that was about putting a farm on the roof of a grocery store to provide freshly farmed produce, reduce environmental issues brought on by transportation, creating greener store through an energy and water filtration feedback system. It was an amazing project at the time, AND how quickly and how far these new ideas have come, making it easier to farm, provide nutritious produce, reduce waste and use clean energy in urban areas. I look forward to the next phases in urban high-tech farming!