The Auburn University College of Agriculture and Campus Dining recently added four new container farms to its vertical farming operation. The four new farms, outfitted in shipping containers, are from AmplifiedAg, a leader in indoor agriculture. Auburn now has six container farms in operation year-round, each designated either for growing, propagation or short-term cold storage. Together, the facilities can yield 25 times more than field production.
The farms are part of Auburn’s FoodU program, an innovative sustainability program to source hyper-local foods grown by students trained in high-tech production methods. Four of the six containers are used to grow produce using hydroponic technology, while one of the new containers serves as a vertical propagation unit. Another one of the new containers serves as a food-safe cold storage facility. These farms are operated by students on the Auburn campus just steps from the dining facilities where their produce is served.
“We are excited to add these new container farms into our FoodU program,” said Daniel Wells, associate professor of horticulture and director of FoodU. “These new state-of-the-art farms will allow us to grow even more high-quality produce for our campus community and will provide an excellent platform for us to continue to train the next generation of producers and problem-solvers.”
Auburn installed its first two container farms in April 2021 as part of the university’s new Transformation Garden, a 16-acre research and teaching facility being constructed to reflect all of plant-based agriculture. One of the newly installed AmplifiedAg containers is dedicated entirely to propagating seedlings from the Transformation Garden’s diverse operations.
“We’re honored to be partners with Auburn University’s FoodU and Transformation Garden,” AmplifiedAg CEO David Flynn said. “These progressive programs are designed to immerse students in a fully integrated, industry-relevant agricultural ecosystem – combining plant science, technology, supply chain logistics and food systems management.”
The new propagation container farm can support the growth of up to 65,000 seedlings simultaneously and 1.6 million annually, according to AmplifiedAg.
Even before the installation of the four new container farms, the salad bar already was the most popular station at Auburn’s The Edge dining hall because of its hyper-local fresh produce harvested and served the same day.
“We have 5,000 students come through there each day, and they are getting a unique campus dining experience,” Auburn Campus Dining Director Glenn Loughridge said. “We are extremely excited to have these new state-of-the-art vertical farms join the FoodU program. Our hope is that their additional capacity of high-tech growing programs will provide even more students the opportunity to enjoy some of the freshest produce possible.”
