Innovative Food Bank Program Benefits Local Farmers While Feeding Those in Need

July 16, 2018 | Khristopher Flack

For a long time food banks and food pantries have occupied a respected, but relatively fixed role in the food system. They are the safety net that catches food before it goes to waste and redirects it those in need. But as popular movements to combat food waste reshape the way food moves through the food system, the reactionary role of food banks is changing too. With even large-scale grocers finding ways to compost or donate their would-be waste, food bank staff are having a harder time bringing in enough quality food to keep their clients well fed. Read More

10 Educational Programs Helping to Support the Growth of Indoor Agriculture

August 22, 2016 | Khristopher Flack

The global indoor agriculture market is expected to grow to more than $27 billion by 2020, fueled by consumer demand for fresh, local produce, a growing population, an ability to produce food in otherwise unfarmable locations, and heavy investment. But that growth is all speculation unless there are actually growers to grow the food and fill those jobs of the future. With this in mind, several universities and experienced growers have begun offering an array of programs and short courses designed to get the growing class of controlled environment farmers up and running.

University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC)

Housed under the university’s Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering and the School of Plant Sciences, CEAC is a hub for indoor ag education, research, and networking. The center includes a 5,200 square ft. training greenhouse, labs for plant physiology and engineering, a hydroponic growth chamber, and a “smart classroom” kitted out with technology that incorporates live data from the greenhouses into the classroom and shares lessons and visiting lecturers with distance learners. Through its own extension services and public curriculum, the CEAC also engages the public with opportunities for people not enrolled in the university to gain crop-specific hydroponic production experience, along with training on greenhouse management and design. Read More

Innovative Food Bank Program Benefits Local Farmers While Feeding Those in Need

August 11, 2016 | Khristopher Flack

For a long time food banks and food pantries have occupied a respected, but relatively fixed role in the food system. They are the safety net that catches food before it goes to waste and redirects it those in need. But as popular movements to combat food waste reshape the way food moves through the food system, the reactionary role of food banks is changing too. With even large-scale grocers finding ways to compost or donate their would-be waste, food bank staff are having a harder time bringing in enough quality food to keep their clients well fed. Read More

Food Bank Farms: How They’re Feeding the Hungry, Farmers, and Themselves

August 10, 2016 | Khristopher Flack

In a food system known for its surplus, food banks are a vital redistributor of would-be waste. However, as more people become interested not only in the amount of food that they receive, but also in its quality, an increasing number of food banks across the country are transcending their traditional roles by getting involved in the production of fresh produce grown specifically for their clients.

The idea of growing food specifically for those in need isn’t new. Early church communities instituted the practice of tithing to encourage gardeners and farmers to grow a part of their field for those in need, and French farmers once embraced the custom of leaving their field edges unharvested for peasants to glean at the end of the season. But in a modern capitalist system where food is a commodity with an assigned dollar value and farming is a difficult way to earn a living, the idea of planting, tending, and growing food to intentionally give it away is novel to say the least. Read More

5 Innovative Urban Home Growing Systems for the Apartment Gardener

July 14, 2016 | Khristopher Flack

Home gardening continues to grow in popularity across the country in tow with the rise of local food movement. According to the National Gardening Association, 35% of all households in America, or 42 million households, are growing food at home or in a community garden, an increase of over 17% in the past five years. However, with 63% of the American population living in cities that comprise only 3.5% of the country’s land area, many urban apartment dwellers with growing proclivities often lack access to land on which to plant even a micro garden, and have difficulty obtaining plots in crowded and oversubscribed community gardens. Fortunately, the growing challenges of apartment-dwellers haven’t gone unnoticed by urban gardening entrepreneurs, who have created a number of innovative growing systems to help city dwellers and micro-gardeners in almost any location grow their own produce. Here’s a list of five urban home growing systems worth checking out.
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