Thursday, October 27, 2011

Markets in Everything: Urban Farm Pods

Is this the produce farm of the future?

ATLANTA -- "It's easy to miss the Podponics headquarters on Ponce de Leon Avenue. We breezed right by before company co-founder Dan Backhaus came out to the curb to wave us in. To look at their setup--six rust-colored, graffitied shipping containers tucked between a Cactus Car Wash franchise and a halfway house--you'd never suspect this was one of Atlanta's flourishing young startups. But behind the padlocked doors, an urban farming operation is in full swing.

"Our ultimate vision is to get 80-100 pods next to the Publix distribution center in Florida or the Walmart distribution center," says Backhaus, "so that we can harvest right there in the morning and plug it directly into their supply chain. We're mainlining fresh produce into the regional distribution network."

Watch video below:



HT: Warren Smith

7 Comments:

At 10/27/2011 11:28 AM, Blogger rjs said...

using sunlight, rain, & dirt is cheaper...

 
At 10/27/2011 11:29 AM, Blogger Hydra said...

Oh goody. Fresh food from an entirely artificial environment.

 
At 10/27/2011 11:53 AM, Blogger Buddy R Pacifico said...

I think this is a good idea. In the Seattle area, much of the winter tomatoes come from Vancouver B.C. Delta greenhouses.

The pod farm company crops are not organic and I wondered why. This is not organic farming, because they use refined, and not unrefined minerals, as nutrients.

An advantage for the pod company is the non-use of pesticides that organic farming may use. Yes, organic food can contain non-synthetic pesticides. These pesticides are rotenone and pyrethrin, and are naturally occuring chemicals.

I think organic foods taste better, but I will now look for non pesticide offerings.

 
At 10/27/2011 12:26 PM, Blogger Eric H said...

Coal-powered gardens?

 
At 10/27/2011 2:46 PM, Blogger Marko said...

Hey, they wanted local produce . . .

 
At 10/27/2011 6:16 PM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 10/27/2011 6:16 PM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

I don't see this as successful just because the areal requirements -vs- income for anything but high-markup products (like, oh, ginseng) is going to be ridiculously low.

It's not like farmland is at a premium.

 

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