Morning Greens Farms

Menu
Menu
Sustainability
Sustainability with SHA’s technology is clearly related to global population and concerns for conservation of global resources. It is the least dependent on land, fossil fuels, and is ready for the coming advantages of use of Sun to make hydrogen for cooking, heating and need for cheap, abundant electricity sans need for natural carbon based resources. However, SHA believes that science was needed before our Universe began and that the creative process was and is an ongoing Experiment. Call it God, if you wish as most of us do, or accidental coincidence in on-going perpetuity. The world can not get bigger, so our part of the Universe expansion grows ever less significant!  We take the position that we do have a responsibiity for the environment; but so far have to depend on science to advise us on what tiny part we do play in determination of the Earth’s degree of wobble, speed of rotation and distance from our perhaps unusual Sun.  Is it a star that for us ultimatley suffers ‘burn-out’; or is it somehow refueled by a power beyond our comprehension?

Of course, the Earth has been somehow enabled to enjoy massive climate change and the poles were tropical areas that changed the balance of nature for millions of years without human laws to control anything! Major and minor or mini 30 year long in one case of a 235 year repetitive brief ice age is close to our current calendar. Yet, some polititical types sell fear of ‘climate change’ and they are right! They just do not know when, for how long in what direction and how to change it. We now have some warm places being just enough wamer to make plant growth more difficult in their summer period.  Our insulated low cost barns are as useful in Summer in Southern latitudes as they are up North in Winter. For comercial growers this can give steady year around employment while avoiding, for example, $7,000 refrigerated trucking fees from CA to Jacksonville, FL to get on a boat to Puerto Rico. Growing on our towers in P.R. in summer is a new venture in our plans.

Hydroponics vs Conventional

Throughout history, it has been shown that hydroponic production of crops is a viable option for growers. Latest research shows that although hydroponically produced lettuce may require more energy compared to lettuce grown conventionally, hydroponics provide 11 times greater yields using 13 times less water (Barbosa, et al.).
 
Our towers utilize a fish waste water nutrient solution which eliminates inferior man made chemical fertilizers. Manual rotation of 8 plant carriers that carry a balanced load is easy to rotate with simple hand pulling either Square Wheel down to overcome inertia and slowly move the two Square Wheels that hold plant carriers on bars between the elevated wheels! The operator simply stops pulling or pushing the bars to enable manual checking twice as desired to insure plants are properly fed and in some cases trimmed for repeat cuttings to order.  The plant roots are not encouraged to anticipate drought conditions with need to penetrate deep into soil, as there is none! But, as long as the roots are able to supply adequate food,air, and moisture the Sun or LED lighting works with the plant leaves to assure healthy growth.

What is aquaponics?

Aquaponics is a farming technique that produces both plants and fish. The fish are fed a high nutrient food and their liquid only waste is then used to feed our carrier plants. This eliminates the need for chemical based nutrients. The major players that can make or break an aquaponic system are bacteria. Fish waste water contains nitrogen in a form that is unusable to plants. Different types of bacteria naturally accumulate in systems and aid in the transformation of ammonia to nitrites (both of which are unusable to plants), and nitrites to nitrates, which can be taken up by plant roots. The nutrients in the water are taken up by plants. Our custom designed fish tanks separates the initially incompatible solid waste that sinks away from the bio-filtered liquid waste that plants love and grow very well with limited roots, if all else needed is constantly available in our controlled environment.

In Northern temperate latitudes, seasonal cold weather stops all outdoor plant growing; but our insulated tower enclosures are both integrated and secured against wind and snow with unique natural gas heating that avoids snow build up on arched clear roof coverings on two levels. The small version can carry 5 rather than 7.5 carriers, but stay inside heated and cooled homes whie producing about 2/3 as much as the commercial tower. Shallow pools are about to make automatic water and feeding be possible.
How long ago was my food harvested?

The time between harvest and consumption varies between five days to several weeks, if refrigeration is employed. A notable consequence of consuming produce that has traveled quite a distance is that the nutritional content of the produce degrades over time and with handling (Barrett). 

The tower operating in Benzonia, MI, Champaign, IL,  or in Bradenton, FL, can use the cut-and-come-again method of harvesting leafy greens. This means a plant is kept alive longer and periodically trimmed of leaves. This allows us to provide the unique service of harvesting upon order, with pick-up scheduled within hours to deliver the freshest greens possible. ​

How far has my food been transported?

For more than two decades, there has been a rise in long-distance transportation of food. In the U.S. fruits and vegetables are transported between 1,500-2,500 miles from the farm to the store or market (Halweil). While this offers consumers a wide diversity of ingredient options, it comes at a cost of fossil fuel consumption and environmental impacts. $7,000 per truck load from CA to Jacksonville, FL to ship 3 more days to Puerto Rico.

The NRDC publication on Food Miles has found that eating locally can provide several benefits:

  • reduce greenhouse gas emissions (possibly a major role in atypical climate found in some parts of the 40% of the Earth not under the oceans)
  • support your local economy and your agricultural community
  • access to fresher, tastier, healthier food

Morning Greens Farms towers are designed to operate in various locations, inside or outdoors. This allows many people to become farmers for themselves and their neighbors. Being able to grow food where the consumers are located is the best way to provide food with the least amount of transportation time and expense. No inorganic technology ever touches our produce!

Why grow vertically? Why rotate?
controlled environment agriculture, has allowed the most efficient control over all necessary resources for plant growth and development. Being able to utilize land is becoming more expensive especially closer to populations of eaters,  and distant farmland is disappearing. The introduction of indoor agriculture, or vertical space gives you the ability to increase production without having to use more floor space, and controlled environment yields multiple harvests with no delay between harvesting and replacing with new seedlings already growing before they get to the tower to mature.

The tower’s rotation satisfies two needs, nutrient solution delivery and aeration for plant roots, and allows workers to keep their feet safely on the ground minimizing the need to bend and work in otherwise uncomfortable positions associated with tending to garden crops. No climbing ladders as we bring the plants to you!

The tower system design allows effective sharing of resources that would otherwise substantially increase the amount of energy needed. If the growing area (which is 50 sf on this model) were spread out over floor space, it would require a much larger area to accommodate room for moving about and accessing plants for harvesting. Also, the amount of light fixtures needed would increase by 50%. Having one shared nutrient reservoir saves energy and need for many water and air pumps or sophisticated plumbing. If all grow beds were vertically stacked, they would need as many resources as if grown across the floor including scissor lifts or ladders. 

The model of tower in operation in Benzonia is 11′ tall. It effectively increases the production of the space it takes up by Two TIMES before considering multiple harvests per year! We anticipate many more towers in the same location. Our standard Sustainability concerns hit a snag when our preferred location was bought out to allow a new owner to grow marijuana and this put us to move to an area sans access to natural gas and low cost night rates for LED power. A future site may be found in a larger population location to enhance and enable lower operational costs. Champaign, IL is now our headquarters, and it offers Power Pricing with lower daily set night pricing pe KW.