10家企业喂养城市农业热潮

飘都市农业作为一个古怪的爱好，而不是用于食品生产的一个可行渠道的日子。

随着越来越多的报道听起来约若隐若现粮食短缺问题的警报，市区农业部门也越来越多地用在农业科技的热潮melding，养殖企业提供了从非正统的成长设置土壤传感器，水培和作物数据分析的所有方式。

“问题是如此巨大，并在许多地方打破了有许多数十亿美元的市场，你可以只跳进去，”布拉德·麦克纳马拉，波士顿集装箱养殖启动的联合创始人货运农场告诉GreenBiz。“有连接形式ed and local food systems and food markets that people are hungry for.”

Alongside the boom in urban ag startups is the growing number of grassroots nonprofit community groups looking to turn vacant lots into local food production hot spots, often结婚与经济发展的营养问题.

Just look atUrban Tilth,城市佬农场或者绿色布朗克斯机，而这一切生长在未充分利用的土地价格实惠，高品质的食品 - 和管理，以创造就业或帮助缓解在加工食品的沙漠。

城市also are starting to play along, with officials in California cities such asOakland,Sacramento和旧金山实际移动，以减轻监管要求或增加奖励都市农业。

Of course, there are lots of potential pitfalls in all of this.

搞清楚如何规范城市农场 - 即使付诸实施的检查，食品安全等基本过程 - 是一个问题。在生活和昂贵的土地，如旧金山激烈的竞争成本高的市场，这也是一个tough judgement callto grow food on large lots instead of building housing for residents facing$ 3500，一个月租金。

随着一个联合国的一份报告甚至指出，五分之一的世界粮食的种植在城市地区 - 从非正式的后院情节高科技垂直农场随处可见 - 一个首要关注的是避免弊病，如削减成本，有毒化肥的依赖，一直困扰食品工业系统生态系统退化。

如规模养殖场甚至是根本性问题，成为城市环境更加明显。

“I’m not sure we’re talking about a city any more if we’re going to have fields of 20 acres and more,” Kaid Bainfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council said in aninterview with Grist.

From new variations on greenhouses to farms designed to grow up instead of out, here's a look at the companies leading the urban ag charge:

1.货运农场

麦克纳马拉和联合创始人乔恩•弗里德曼没有farmers by trade. Before the pair launched Freight Farms in 2010, they were working as green rooftop consultants to clients in urban areas, and found that pricing was always the sticking point.

货运农场

Freight Farms co-founders Friedman (left) and McNamara, outside a container farm designed to operate in variable weather conditions.

这个转变的帮助 - 在努力降低建设和运营成本，该集团由“空间之间”已成为都市农耕，如空地和棕地的代名词，而不是专注于在复制的海运集装箱日益增长的粮食转开他们筹集风险资本投资约500万$日期。

The company's signature product, the “Leafy Green Machine,”是现成的水培农场内一个40英尺×8英尺×9.5英尺shipping container that uses LED lights and drip irrigation. The company also created an app, farmhand, that allows customers to remotely track conditions inside the container, such as temperatures that are crucial for food safety.

2. AeroFarms

Proclaiming itself “the commercial leader in urban agriculture” is vertical farming companyAeroFarms，哪个市场的方法来粮食生产的LED照明和雾培，否定了自然的阳光和土壤的需求。

The New Jersey-based company has raised more than $30 million in a bid to produce some150万英镑of produce annually, in large part by growing at a69,000-square-foot converted steel millin Newark.

Rather than framing food grown on farms as an equal replacement for field-grown crops, AeroFarms (like several of its competitors) emphasizes year-round availability and capabilities for growing finicky foods that carefully must be monitored.

In addition to better water efficiency and the appeal of pesticide-free produce, the company also plays up the trend toward local supply chains, stressing fewer transportation miles traveled and closer ties to communities.

3. BrightFarms

力图弥合农场和菜市场之间的差距，总部位于纽约的BrightFarms“财务，设计，建造和运营”温室接近食品零售商。

The effort to upend the produce supply chain has helped the company raise more than $11 million from investors.

The company's first few farms in Kansas City, Missouri, and northern Virginia certainly don't operate in the densest of cities, but BrightFarms is pushing the boundaries of sustainable agriculture. With its Bucks County, Pennsylvania, operation, the company inked a first-of-its kind, long-term “Produce Purchase Agreement” with independent grocer McCaffrey's.

4. Edenworks

Sure, shipping containers and greenhouses on the ground are options for would-be urban farmers, butEdenworks— the brainchild of a bioengineer and an architect — takes the field to new heights.

Edenworks

Edenworks' vision of rooftop aquaponic greenhouses.

The Brooklyn-based company has raised just shy of $1 million to build rooftop aquaponic greenhouses that grow organic greens, mushrooms and herbs with the help of manure from tilapia and prawns also grown in the mini-farm.

“我们看到分布式电源通过太阳能和风能，而真正需要成为分布式接下来的事情发生的是粮食生产，”联合创始人贾森·格林told TechCrunchthis month. “There’s a huge amount of energy that goes into the distribution of food, and things are grown for transportability, not for quality, or flavor or nutrition.”

Sensors within the greenhouse also collect data on environmental conditions and the wastewater from the sea creatures, providing information to growers about which operation components need attention.

5. Detroit Dirt

At its core,Detroit Dirt是堆肥公司。

Founder Pashon Murray, a Detroit native whose parents both worked for General Motors, has enlisted support from the city's auto industry — in turn出现在广受关注的汽车广告- 缩放她产生堆肥，然后使用材料上的空地种植粮食的模式。

Murray's company functions as the middle man between businesses that generate lots of waste (such as restaurants and the city's zoo), taking that waste and processing it at a 2.5-acre composting facility before selling it back to urban farmers in need of nutrient-rich soil. Detroit Dirt also works directly with corporations to launch community farms.

“People ask me if I’m building a landfill,” Murray told the blog The Fiiix last year. “I like to think of it as a winery. I have different grades of dirt for different uses.”

6. SproutsIO

SproutsIO

With the tagline of “personal produce,” Detroit-basedSproutsIOis beta-testing small, in-home or in-office systems for customers to monitor and control plants from their smartphones.

The jist of the idea is to urbanize the suburban backyard garden.

According toa recent reportby Wired, the company aims to provide both hydroponic and aeroponic systems, a data log to monitor the health of plants and when they will be ready to harvest, as well as a way to interact with other customers growing their own food.

7. Fujitsu

为数不多的大公司涉水头先入了自己的股份公司技术风险的是日本IT公司富士通，已经收到的恶名its endeavors growing lettuce在大规模的垂直结构。

有趣的是，该公司认为自己更象是一个典范AG技术比萌芽农场硬件供应者。

“成长的生菜并不意味着是一个收入来源，而是在说服农民开始利用信息通信技术的一个必要步骤”，根据a reportby U.K. publication The Register.

Grove Labs

A promotional image of a Grove Labs system

8. Grove Labs

基于波士顿Grove Labsis banking on its $4 million in funding to help sell lots of city-friendly indoor gardens.

While many urban ag startups favor aluminum racks and other more industrial touches, Grove has folded its indoor farming technology within furniture designed to blend in with apartment decor.

The company is accepting refundable $100 deposits for the first batch of products expected to ship this winter and sell for less than $5,000.

9.食园农场

Garden Fresh Farms' Dave Roser

Just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota,食园农场is focused on bringing farming operations indoors. The company founded by Hewlett-Packard veteran Dave Roser runs multiple warehouses that have been converted into farms.

In addition to developing a patent-pending cylindrical growing structure, the company advertises its capacity to advise those looking to establish their own indoor farms on everything from market research and real estate search to CAD design, installation of equipment, training and food distribution.