Feeding the Future: student-led design at the nexus of food, energy, and water

Biosphere 2 is taking a multi-pronged approach in the form of the latest generation modular container farm, known as the Freight Farm Greenery S, to reduce carbon emissions from agricultural production and transportation, improve crop nutritional value, and increase food accessibility to communities. With the support of the Campus Sustainability Fund, Biosphere 2 will establish a container grow environment that will provide a highly efficient and portable grow space that could potentially be a solution to food insecurity and injustice by growing and harvesting herbicide and pesticide-free produce in a controlled environment without the use of sunlight in the grow process. The goal is to construct "circular economic" structures by leveraging and integrating this new facility into existing programming for student/community involvement, alternative curricula, and research and development. This idea will allow for the delivery of fresh food to areas where it would otherwise be difficult to grow. They also contribute greatly to shortening the distance between where food is farmed and where it is consumed. Biosphere 2, with its one-of-a-kind mesoscale structure, will outperform standard laboratories in terms of offering a space for research into innovative crop production and crop commercial viability.