Freight Farms: 2017 In Review
Looking Back on An Eventful year
Boston | December 20th, 2017
It’s been another momentous year at Freight Farms. We’ve grown into new markets and geographies, partnered with cool people and somehow found time to pack up our things and farms and move our HQ to the South End.
While 2017 has been a year of milestones for us, in the past few weeks alone we’ve been blown away by our customers’ stories. Our goal in creating the Leafy Green Machine™ was to make farming accessible to everyone with the hope that access to fresh produce would change communities around the world. And our customers are doing just that. Here are some of the exciting new projects we’re happy to highlight from around the globe…
Cyprus: HerbanLeaf became the first container farm in Limassol, Cyprus in November. The farm is operated by the Timveos family, who grow a variety of fresh produce to sell to restaurants in the area’s numerous upscale hotels scattered along the island’s beautiful beaches. The family was motivated to add an LGM to their farm after struggling against harsh, hot summers and incredibly low rainfall.
Colorado: In Colorado, three Denver schools have come together to operate a Leafy Green Machine. These schools-- one vocational and two public-- all reach different parts of the Denver community, but the district hopes this project will help bring students together through fresh veggies and a common goal.
Minnesota: This fall, Second Harvest Heartland food bank became the first food bank in the Feeding America network to add a Leafy Green Machine to their warehouse. The food bank has had a long-standing dedication to supplementing their food donations with local food. They have added sweet corn, potatoes, apples and more to their shelves, but have always struggled with sourcing leafy greens. The farm will be delivered in late December and will begin production shortly after.
Bringing Fresh Greens to Those In Need
“I'm excited to work with the entire Second Harvest Heartland team to begin participating upstream in the food production supply chain to supply hyper-local, sustainable, nutritious greens to the food insecure ecosystem".
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Murad Velani, (Second Harvest Heartland)
New Jersey: Robbinsville, NJ has brought an LGM to the municipality with the goal of servicing township programs such as the local senior center, Meals on Wheels, etc. They are also hoping to start a community share garden, as well as use it in schools to lead educational programs around farming and nutrition.
Feeding a Community
"Growing our own food that is healthy and nutritious, with an eye on partnering with organizations such as Meals on Wheels, is a wonderful concept".
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Mayor Dave Fried (NJ.com)
Rhode Island: Cumberland High School has just completed its first harvest. The school district is relying on the Leafy Green Machine to bring fresh produce to school lunches and to supplement educational programs. The district is working with Sodexo to run the farm, and is aiming to train teachers and students to help in future harvests.
Providing Nutritious School Lunches
“If we pick something in the morning and a student is eating it for noontime, the nutrients are definitely right there...It’s the best way to consume produce that is locally grown”.
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Shauna Spillane, Food Service Director, Sodexo
(Valley Breeze)
Image source: CleanTechnica
And some other cool stories that came out of this year…
The Netherlands’ Grow Local - a Leafy Green Machine stationed at a Senior Living Facility where the majority of the produce is harvested, prepared and enjoyed by the senior community.
Houston’s Acre in a Box - urban farmers were able to withstand the extreme weather conditions of hurricane Harvey, selling fresh produce to local restaurants just days after the storm.
Brooklyn’s Square Roots - an urban farming accelerator launched by Kimbal Musk using Freight Farms technology.
Baltimore’s Karma Farm - a traditional farm branching out into hydroponics to extend their farming season and join Baltimore’s growing farm-to-table movement.
Vietnam’s Everlane Saitex Factory - using the proceeds from its Black Friday sales, clothing retailer Everlane is opening three LGMs at their Saitex denim factory in Vietnam, providing fresh meals to the factory workers.
Looking ahead to 2018
We look forward to 2018 being a year of great growth and change in the company. Our biggest goal for the year is to start thinking outside of the box and exploring new markets and products that we can offer our customers to make local food increasingly available. Equally exciting is our push to keep expanding internationally to make freight farming a global solution for underserved communities.
A Freight Farms Resolution
As for our New Year’s resolution? We really want to bring back our open houses! Now that we’re finally situated in our new office, it’s time to invite people in to see the Leafy Green Machine and learn more about how it all works.
Happy New Years from the Freight Farms team!
Jon Friedman, Co-Founder and COO
For more about Freight Farms in 2017, please see our 2017 re-cap blog post.