Freight container farms: a feasibility and sustainability assessment

Container farms are an emerging form of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) on a small, but potentially more efficient scale. The container provides a highly controlled vertical (hydroponic) farm housed, with plants being grown either in a vertically oriented tray or stacked horizontal trays, in recycled and refurbished Grade-A freight containers to provide fresh, leafy greens (and potentially a wide range of other crops). The freight containers house a precise environment that is more efficient than traditional open-field or sunlight-based controlled-environment agriculture, using 99% less water than traditional agricultural practices and eliminating the need for soil and pesticides, all while yielding higher quality produce. The purpose of this study is to assess both the sustainability and feasibility of freight container farms for use on a university campus and a modified Field-To-Market based continuation of work on Sustainability scores (S-score) for container farms. Regarding the feasibility analysis, four major container farm companies based in the Midwest and Eastern regions of the U.S were interviewed and consulted for a specifically designed freight container farm to produce a sufficient yield of leafy greens for the Beckman Institute Café at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. A proposal was submitted to the Beckman Institute with a recommendation for a company that best fits the needs of the café. For the S-score of freight container farms, five container farms, all small businesses, volunteered to provide their experience with their farm(s) and supplier and manufacturer of their farm. Additionally, all farms were producing leafy greens. Two of the farms were in Illinois, one in Massachusetts, one in South Carolina, and one in Alabama. Sustainability was assessed through a modification of an S-score to measure the impacts of safety, social, economic, environmental, energy, and applied techniques factors on daily operations. These individual metrics were identified and measured from a range of 6.3 to 7.5 with an average of 7.02 as the overall S-score that determines the overall sustainability of freight container farms. Descriptive and quantitative statistics were utilized to determine the probability of an S-score being under seven, a selected benchmark for a moderate sustainability score and negative impact on the environment. The goal is for the S-score to display a total S-score that is higher on a scale from zero to ten on the basis of positive impact on the community and environment. There is a direct association between size of the business and influence of the six metrics on how the farms were rated, whereas the size of the farm and leadership team increases, the metrics s-scores also increased. Overall, the results remained consistent across the board as freight container farms have little room for error except for software and user error. However, the social metrics and energy metrics have variances due to business goals and climates by region.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engr Tech & Mgmt for Ag Sys

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Diaz, Kaitlyne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Davidson, Paul C

• Hydroponics
• Controlled Environment Agriculture
• Sustainability
• Urban Agriculture

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Kaitlyne Diaz

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120185

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F120185