Chapter 3
Freight Farm
Students harvest leafy greens through sustainable agriculture in OU’s own backyard
Wedged behind Cate Main sits a white 40-foot standard shipping container that hardly seems to merit a second glance.
But the oblong rectangle offers more than what meets the eye — its interior, which has been retrofitted for hydroponic agriculture, contains a self-sustaining world primed to grow plants.
Leafy greens in various stages of growth bloom from row upon row of vertical towers, 256 in all, coaxed out by strips of red and blue alternating lights that dangle from the ceiling. The neon glow, which offers ideal UV light conditions, lends to the farm’s futuristic feel.
The future is exactly what’s at stake — the hydroponic system is designed with sustainability in mind, using far less water, electricity and space than traditional farming to bring agriculture to urban settings.
“We’re looking at a sustainable product that leaves such a negligible print that you wouldn’t expect it,” said Windeon McDowell, a Housing and Food special projects manager who oversees OU’s freight farm operations. “You’re talking about 1,000 heads of lettuce, an acre and a half worth of growth, that’s been grown with 10 gallons of water — that’s less than a standard shower for most students.”
Each week, up to 1,000 heads of lettuce are plucked from the vertical hanging towers within, put into boxes and carried 20 feet into Cate, where they’ll be washed, chopped and served at the salad bar within a few days, if not hours.
The freight farm got its start in fall 2016 as part of OU’s initiative to provide fresh, local food to campus. As part of the student-led initiative, OU supplies all of its eggs from a nearby farmer and a significant amount of meat from Oklahoma ranchers, but the freight farm is hyper-local in both its placement on campus and its involvement of students as volunteers.
“It allows us to kind of stand out and be more on the forefront as opposed to trying to catch up with things,” McDowell said. “And I think that Housing and Food services here at the university has tried to make that their priority…As long as it’s good for our school, as long as it’s good for our students, we will be more than willing to look into those things.”
Wedged behind Cate Main sits a white 40-foot standard shipping container that hardly seems to merit a second glance.
But the oblong rectangle offers more than what meets the eye — its interior, which has been retrofitted for hydroponic agriculture, contains a self-sustaining world primed to grow plants.
Leafy greens in various stages of growth bloom from row upon row of vertical towers, 256 in all, coaxed out by strips of red and blue alternating lights that dangle from the ceiling. The neon glow, which offers ideal UV light conditions, lends to the farm’s futuristic feel.
The future is exactly what’s at stake — the hydroponic system is designed with sustainability in mind, using far less water, electricity and space than traditional farming to bring agriculture to urban settings.
“We’re looking at a sustainable product that leaves such a negligible print that you wouldn’t expect it,” said Windeon McDowell, a Housing and Food special projects manager who oversees OU’s freight farm operations. “You’re talking about 1,000 heads of lettuce, an acre and a half worth of growth, that’s been grown with 10 gallons of water — that’s less than a standard shower for most students.”
Each week, up to 1,000 heads of lettuce are plucked from the vertical hanging towers within, put into boxes and carried 20 feet into Cate, where they’ll be washed, chopped and served at the salad bar within a few days, if not hours.
The freight farm got its start in fall 2016 as part of OU’s initiative to provide fresh, local food to campus. As part of the student-led initiative, OU supplies all of its eggs from a nearby farmer and a significant amount of meat from Oklahoma ranchers, but the freight farm is hyper-local in both its placement on campus and its involvement of students as volunteers.
“It allows us to kind of stand out and be more on the forefront as opposed to trying to catch up with things,” McDowell said. “And I think that Housing and Food services here at the university has tried to make that their priority…As long as it’s good for our school, as long as it’s good for our students, we will be more than willing to look into those things.”
How it works
OU is the first of any Big 12 school and one of 10 universities in the country to have its own freight farm, known officially as a Leafy Green Machine. The concept is a product of Freight Farms, an urban agriculture company founded in 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts, that has sold around 160 of its farms to places around the world.
Lettuce grown in the freight farm helps supply restaurants in Cate, including the salad bar at O’Henry’s. McDowell said the farm is unable to produce enough to cover Cate’s entire lettuce supply but, to date, has produced more than 500 pounds of lettuce in total.
The hydroponic growing process itself is a simple procedure broken into three basic steps: seeding, transplanting and harvesting.
Student volunteers who staff the farm pluck pelleted seeds from the package they arrive in and carefully place them inside small pods of soil that come ready-made with a small hole.
After a day or so of soaking up moisture beneath a humidifier, the 200 seedlings on each tray will be placed on a shelf where they are watered and exposed to light. Several tiny blooming leaves and a solid network of roots stretching around a pod’s surface will soon indicate the plant is ready for transportation, usually within a few days.
From there, it’ll be planted into one of the towers, which contain slots stacked one on top of another, where the plant’s mini-blossoms will transform into a blooming head of lettuce within about six weeks.
How it works
OU is the first of any Big 12 school and one of 10 universities in the country to have its own freight farm, known officially as a Leafy Green Machine. The concept is a product of Freight Farms, an urban agriculture company founded in 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts, that has sold around 160 of its farms to places around the world.
Lettuce grown in the freight farm helps supply restaurants in Cate, including the salad bar at O’Henry’s. McDowell said the farm is unable to produce enough to cover Cate’s entire lettuce supply but, to date, has produced more than 500 pounds of lettuce in total.
The hydroponic growing process itself is a simple procedure broken into three basic steps: seeding, transplanting and harvesting.
Student volunteers who staff the farm pluck pelleted seeds from the package they arrive in and carefully place them inside small pods of soil that come ready-made with a small hole.
After a day or so of soaking up moisture beneath a humidifier, the 200 seedlings on each tray will be placed on a shelf where they are watered and exposed to light. Several tiny blooming leaves and a solid network of roots stretching around a pod’s surface will soon indicate the plant is ready for transportation, usually within a few days.
From there, it’ll be planted into one of the towers, which contain slots stacked one on top of another, where the plant’s mini-blossoms will transform into a blooming head of lettuce within about six weeks.
McDowell selects a wide variety of lettuces, all markedly different. The texture of the leaves — some buttery, others brittle — as well as the various shades of red and green and the shape of the blossoms, distinguish each unique variety from the rest.
Water piped in from Cate trickles down through the vertical growing towers and imitated UV rays from specially designed lights provide the resources necessary for growth. In total, the farm uses 10 gallons of water and 160 kilowatt hours per day to sustain the equivalent of an acre and a half of growth, McDowell said.
The operation is controlled by an app called “Farm Hand,” which allows the freight farm staff to regulate the temperature, lights, water, humidity and other factors either from an iPad station inside the farm or from afar on their phones.
For the seeding, transplanting and harvesting aspects, volunteers from OUr Earth, an environmentally minded club, each spend roughly an hour per week to keep the farm up and running.
Emily Sullivan, biochemistry sophomore and OUr Earth freight farm volunteer coordinator, said she thinks maintenance and day-to-day operations in the farm are fairly easy. With 14 volunteers each working one hour per week, the farm is able to run smoothly, Sullivan said.
It’s taken lots of experimenting and learning from mistakes for the freight farm to get to where it is today. After months of trying different products, including herbs and other greens like kale, swiss chard and arugula, McDowell decided to focus solely on lettuce.
The team encounters new problems and obstacles they must deal with regularly. Recently, a fruit fly invasion caused lettuce production to slow considerably when the flies began laying larvae in the grow mediums, Sullivan said. The problem has since been addressed, but Sullivan said she and McDowell must deal weekly with other minor issues like supplies and volunteer schedules to keep it running smoothly.
“When we first got the farm, I kind of considered it more like a lettuce factory — you know, you follow the steps, you get the lettuce, and that’s how it is,” McDowell said. “But I had to understand that what you’re doing is, you’re farming. And not only that, what you’re growing are living plants … and, as such, they are subject to the whims of growing conditions in the way that a typical plant or anything else might grow.”
McDowell selects a wide variety of lettuces, all markedly different. The texture of the leaves — some buttery, others brittle — as well as the various shades of red and green and the shape of the blossoms, distinguish each unique variety from the rest.
Water piped in from Cate trickles down through the vertical growing towers and imitated UV rays from specially designed lights provide the resources necessary for growth. In total, the farm uses 10 gallons of water and 160 kilowatt hours per day to sustain the equivalent of an acre and a half of growth, McDowell said.
The operation is controlled by an app called “Farm Hand,” which allows the freight farm staff to regulate the temperature, lights, water, humidity and other factors either from an iPad station inside the farm or from afar on their phones.
For the seeding, transplanting and harvesting aspects, volunteers from OUr Earth, an environmentally minded club, each spend roughly an hour per week to keep the farm up and running.
Emily Sullivan, biochemistry sophomore and OUr Earth freight farm volunteer coordinator, said she thinks maintenance and day-to-day operations in the farm are fairly easy. With 14 volunteers each working one hour per week, the farm is able to run smoothly, Sullivan said.
It’s taken lots of experimenting and learning from mistakes for the freight farm to get to where it is today. After months of trying different products, including herbs and other greens like kale, swiss chard and arugula, McDowell decided to focus solely on lettuce.
The team encounters new problems and obstacles they must deal with regularly. Recently, a fruit fly invasion caused lettuce production to slow considerably when the flies began laying larvae in the grow mediums, Sullivan said. The problem has since been addressed, but Sullivan said she and McDowell must deal weekly with other minor issues like supplies and volunteer schedules to keep it running smoothly.
“When we first got the farm, I kind of considered it more like a lettuce factory — you know, you follow the steps, you get the lettuce, and that’s how it is,” McDowell said. “But I had to understand that what you’re doing is, you’re farming. And not only that, what you’re growing are living plants … and, as such, they are subject to the whims of growing conditions in the way that a typical plant or anything else might grow.”
Resource comparisons
32
Dryer cycles equal to 160 kilowatt hours
3
Tomatoes grown with 10 gallons of water
Sources: Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives and Livestrong.
The benefits
The freight farm allows Cate to offer a wider selection than store-bought lettuce while also eliminating processing and transportation, which lessens the environmental impact and increases nutritional value, McDowell said.
“When you typically get your lettuce from wherever you get it from, it’s been harvested somewhere, it’s been sent somewhere, they’ve probably processed it and sent it somewhere and, depending on if your lettuce comes chopped or something like that, they’ve probably processed it, and now you’re getting it,” McDowell said. “It’s probably been two, three weeks or a month out, and at this point, yeah, there’s probably not a whole lot to it.”
Getting fresh food on campus is part of what makes the freight farm so valuable, said Cindy Belardo, the president of OUr Earth.
“Locally sourced means it’s going to be fresh,” Belardo said. “Right when we pick it, we put it into the box, and it’s walked over to the restaurant and used right away, if not, maybe within a week … It just tastes good, just the quality.”
McDowell said it’s important to provide a quality product that is much more than what could be found in the aisles of a grocery store.
“Most people don’t realize that there’s a whole lot more lettuce than you would even think about or know,” McDowell said. “So from us focusing more on lettuce, we said, ‘Okay, let us use this as an opportunity’ — as an opportunity to not only show all these different kinds of lettuce but to actually show people that lettuce can be more than what you expect in the store.”
A partnership between OU Housing and Food and student volunteers in OUr Earth allows the farm to operate efficiently with a solid labor force that is driven and dedicated to the project, Sullivan said.
“The way that we grow our food and where our food comes from is a big part of the environment and how to mitigate problems that human activities have on the environment,” Sullivan said. “And everyone involved in OUr Earth finds that very important.”
The volunteers are able to eat the food they grow by hand, which is a rewarding experience, Belardo said.
“Being a part of OUr Earth club and being a volunteer in it, it’s kind of an activity,” Belardo said. “It’s a way you can give to the local community on campus and have a purpose that way and show people results, how we’re actually making an impact — I think that’s really rewarding.”
Looking ahead
McDowell said he would love to add another freight farm to campus in order to supply more local food. But since Housing and Food is focusing on its next big project — the Cross Neighborhood development — getting a second freight farm is not high on the list of priorities, considering the $85,000 sticker price and the work required to run it.
Housing and Food director Dave Annis said expanding the freight farm initiative hinges on a continued interest from students involved.
“If there’s interest on the students’ part for more of that around campus, and if there are certainly the volunteers from different environmental groups that want to help with that, then we’re all about looking at expanding,” Annis said. “It’s, again, a pretty costly upfront commitment, and we wanted to make sure we got one up and running really well before we committed to doing more. But I’d love to see them all over the place, I really would.”
For McDowell, operating the freight farm has changed the way he views agriculture. Instead of relying on traditional, large farms to ship food from states away, the freight farm gives small, urban places the year-round option of providing their own food for their communities, he said.
“Whenever most people think about agriculture and farming, you think about huge farmlands and big tractors and all these things,” McDowell said. “But what freight farm has done, what they’ve done I think quite fantastically, is they’ve taken that and broken it down into a way that you can get that same kind of farming, but in an urban setting.”
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