Freight Farms fundraising on Wefunder: Farm in a box

"Honey, I'm just going down to the grow cellar to get herbs and pick spinach for dinner."

Of course, it would also be a huge space saving. My house is on a 750sqm block and I have a decent part of my garden allocated to growing vegetables (15+ types at any given time) and herbs (9-10 types). The ability to grow and share more would reduce food miles amongst other advantages.

If the growing supplies arrived via a subscription service and some of the power costs were offset by solar, the demand on hobby owners could be reduced enough to make it viable for more than just small and medium scale farmers.

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Edit: Also, addition of aquaponics would complicate things, but might interest some. If you're going to be controlling temperature already, might as well do it for the fish too and cycle your water.

Not sure if they are using a Compactus-type system to really pack in growing space for the hydroponics, but if not that might be worth trying.

Like this: http://www.desking-systems.com.au/media/catalog/category/fil...

If an initial goal is to increase local produce for winter months in cooler climates (than California) then seeing tomatoes, summer squash, and fruits seems necessary. I think berries could be confined to the small space, but what about fruit trees? I personally store (preserve or freeze) berries and peaches to have in winter.

Kale and other leafy's can be over-wintered with much cheaper (to build and operate) green or hoop houses – at least in the pacific northwest.

I understand they are in the MVP kinda stage, but to me, to see any potential value I would need to know if fruit, tomatoes, summer squash can be done in winter, as those require more heat, more sun, and have higher disease pressure.

It is easy to believe they've achieved some sort of breakthrough. But having spent twenty plus years as an agronomist in a previous career I can tell you there's only so much that you can do without bending the laws of physics.

The FAQ mentions that the annual operating cost is about $12,000/yr, including "growing supplies, electricity, water, and labor." What's the breakdown? I'm kind of surprised, I'd expect electricity costs (for fully artificial light and heating the container through the winter) to be much higher.

Also - is there a reason this is better than a greenhouse - where at most you'd need to supplement light during the winter months, as opposed to providing year-round artificial light for all the plant's needs?

And finally - the sentence: "LEDs don't put off heat" isn't true. Might want to get that taken out.

(1) Hydroponic operations, long term, miss out on a lot of nutrients you otherwise would have had (eg: B2).

(2) Sustainability. These things need significant power and labour inputs due to the artificial, high density, monoculture nature of the crop. Why design like this, when the world is not short on solar power and much of the real wastage is in transport? (Even mentioned in the article)

Following this line of thought, what we really need is closer-to-nature, closer-to-end-consumer solutions - ie. variety of non-monocultured plants in dirt near plate. Good luck monetizing that one! (Note: not a serious challenge; any and all disrespect to GM companies intended)

FF: Approximately 50%.

Gross, EBITDA or other? There's a world of difference.