The program includes a variety of functions: agroecological laboratories, training centers for urban farmers, food market spaces, and co-housing for researchers and students. At its base, the project integrates the FarmBox concept — mobile urban farming modules made from recycled shipping containers. These units can be deployed across different neighborhoods to activate underused spaces and promote local food systems.

Rooted in biomimetic and regenerative design, TerraViva draws from North African environmental strategies such as rainwater harvesting, passive cooling, and the use of locally sourced materials. The project envisions architecture not only as shelter but as a productive ecosystem — one that educates, nourishes, and regenerates the urban environment.

Latvia-based Carbon Less Future (CLF) is building a new model for reforestation, one shipping container at a time. Their container-based tree-growing system, designed around vertical farming principles, can cultivate up to 33,600 saplings in a single cycle. The system is intended not only to optimize growing conditions but to make reforestation visible, accessible, and verifiable.

"A lot of companies donate money to plant trees, but never see them grow. We wanted to change that," says Aigars Jacuks, COO and Co-founder at CLF. Together with CEO and Co-founder Aivis Garais, the team developed a twelve-meter container equipped with a glazed ten-meter wall that allows passersby to observe the growth process in real time.

For many people, going to the grocery store and selecting fresh vegetables is part of their routine. But not everyone has that luxury and food insecurity is an issue we see in many communities.

One man is trying to help change that. 

“We’re actually standing inside a 40-foot shipping container that’s been outfitted as you can see to grow vegetables. It’s hydroponic, so it runs on. We just supply water, nutrients and lighting and we grow vegetables that way,” said James Paul, executive director of Blacque Acres, a nonprofit organization that was just an idea three years ago, but has become a reality to help address food insecurity. 

Beginning next month, inmates at South Carolina’s women’s prison will be able to receive agricultural training and a stipend upon release with the help of a statewide grant program.

The South Carolina philanthropy Power:Ed announced a $97,000 grant this month to the nonprofit Impact Justice, which is working with the state Department of Corrections to run the agricultural program at the state’s prison for women.

Beyond growing an expected 48,000 pounds of lettuce each year for the prison’s kitchens, the program is meant to train women in the fast-growing field of hydroponics, which means growing plants in water instead of soil, to help them get jobs soon after leaving prison.

Some would say Seattle’s food scene is at its best when the impact stretches beyond the immediate benefits of nourishment and taste.

That’s certainly the case at Cherry Street Farm, where Hip Hop is Green founder Keith Tuckets uses a shipping container hydroponic farm to help feed Seattle families, with future plans to educate kids about climate justice, sustainability, and vegan cooking. Currently, a community kitchen is under construction and eventually, the space will host live music and other teaching opportunities.

Nature’s Miracle Holding announced it will purchase five electric vehicle trucks from ZO Motors North America to launch its mobile vertical farm project. The company plans to complete this purchase, financed through California’s electric vehicle rebate program, by Q2 2025. Nature’s Miracle will convert these EV trucks into mobile vertical farms for growing microgreens and herbs. It expects to receive up to 100 trucks by the end of 2025.

Bringing nature into a classroom is one of the missions for an organization called New York Sun Works.

CBS News New York's Erica Lunsford visited a school in the Bronx and shows us how students are learning in a unique way.

Nestled on a small hill between the vibrantly colored houses of East Cherry Street is a farm capable of producing two-and-a-half acres' worth of crops, all in a metal freight container the size of a school bus.

To any passersby, Cherry Street Farm looks no different from a misplaced shipping unit. Indeed, the hydroponics setup, which grows plants in a controlled climate using a nutrient-enhanced water drip, is built within a converted shipping container by Freight Farms based in Boston, and it's Seattle's first Freight Farms hydroponics lab.

Stepping into the container is like walking into a completely new biome. First, the humid air hits the nose with the fragrance of fresh earth. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the intense glare of the red and blue LED lights before I could focus on the grow operation: four floor-to-ceiling sliding plant walls.

The recent Indoor Ag-Conversations  panel brought together four seasoned voices from the container farming world. The session was moderated by Grant Anderson of Better Fresh Farms, a container farm operator, and featured three manufacturers as panelists: Matt Daniels (AmplifiedAg®), Glenn Behrman (CEA Advisors LLC), and Tripp Williamson (Vertical Crop Consultants).

Their goal? To offer a clear-eyed look at what’s working, what’s not, and where the industry goes from here.

What followed was one of the most honest, detailed discussions the container farming sector has seen in some time.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) training center in Colorado Springs has significantly upgraded its food and nutrition program through a partnership with Babylon Micro-Farms. What began as a single installation has rapidly expanded to three units, providing athletes with a consistent supply of fresh, hyper-local produce.

This collaboration allows the training center to grow nutrient-dense greens and microgreens on-site, taking the guesswork out of traditional farming. Executive Chef Nick Lachman highlights the immediate impact, with produce going "from the farm" directly to the salad bar, enhancing the visual appeal and flavor of dishes. Red sorrel and microgreens for smoothies, particularly raspberry basil, have been singled out as athlete favorites.

Cincinnati is not the only zoo producing its own food and sourcing items locally. Mike Maslanka, senior nutritionist at the Smithsonian National Zoo and chair of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ nutrition advisory group, estimates every one of the 238 AZA-accredited institutions is growing or sourcing at least some of their animals’ food locally.

“So, that's whole prey, that's insects, that's bamboo and brows, hay, produce,” Maslanka said.

A poster at the Cincinnati Zoo explains the process behind the giraffe's food. Isabel Nissley / The Ohio Newsroom

But, the number of zoos using hydroponics is smaller. Neither of zoos in Cleveland or Columbus currently grow food hydroponically.

Maslanka said that could be due to high costs of the technology.

A group of Central Wyoming College (CWC) students have repurposed an 8-by-40-foot shipping container to successfully grow delicious vegetables and herbs without soil, sunshine and acres of space in a sustainable way, reports Cowboy State Daily.  These students are enrolled on a Regenerative Small-Scale Farming AAS degree. According to CWC, it is the first of its kind in Wyoming. 

“We’ve been fortunate to be able to bring this kind of technology to the area,” shares local food and agriculture instructor, Ethan Page. “I think this is one of two freight farms in the state, and the only one that’s kind of served, or has like an educational purpose,” he adds. 

When Ranjot Singh Dhaliwal started Sustainabite Fresh Farms in a shipping container in Surrey, he knew he couldn’t repeat the mistakes of hi-tech indoor farms closing their doors around the Lower Mainland. “What I have seen in vertical farms is they put a lot of money in. So much unnecessary technology that was not needed. While I was building it, my main focus was to make it profitable,” explained Dhaliwal.

Dhaliwal has seen many indoor farms fail in recent years; a sentiment echoed by Chris Arthur of Sky Harvest, a organic microgreens farm inside an unassuming industrial space in Richmond.

The most recent monthly Indoor Ag Conversations webinar hosted by Indoor Ag-Con, held June 3, focused on “The State and Future of Container Farming.”

Container farming is a form of small-scale controlled environment agriculture — i.e. indoor or vertical farming — that is often built inside shipping containers. The units are self-contained, able to be moved to the necessary location and allow for small-scale out-of-season growth of fresh produce.

They are not without their challenges, however. The talk included four panelists from the container farming industry discussing the impacts of Freight Farms and its recent collapse, the challenges of the industry, and where it goes from here.

BoomGrow can grow leafy greens, microgreens, edible flowers, herbs, and even mushrooms. From planting to harvest, it takes 35-38 days , which is faster than in open ground or a greenhouse.

At the same time, the growing process uses 95% less water, soil, and fuel than traditional methods.The modular vertical farm is a development of the Malaysian startup BoomGrow . It operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore. Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country where the project was scaled up.

The farm was developed and assembled in Malaysia and delivered to Almaty, now the container is located on the territory of the Kazakh National Research Technical University named after K. I. Satpayev.

With sleeves rolled up and gloves on, young students at Redford Union Schools are growing leafy greens that show up later in the lunchroom as kids learn science, responsibility and even some healthy habits along the way.

Thanks to a new hydroponics program launched this year at both Hilbert and Beech elementary, the district's elementary STEAM classes are growing lettuce without soil – just water, light, curiosity and lots of smiles.

The project began in January with sixth graders planting the first crop of romaine lettuce. Since then, students in first through sixth grade have gotten involved in everything from monitoring the hydroponic system to harvesting.

Buk-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, is also pushing for a "one stone and three trillion" project to protect the environment and increase jobs for the youth and the elderly by installing a "container smart farm" that grows eco-friendly crops using public idle land in the city center. Recently, Buk-gu created a container-type urban smart farm in the parking lot space of Buk-gu Sae Village Association. The container-type smart farm is 40㎡ of land and can stack crops up to six layers without taking up a large area, so you can get a large amount of harvest compared to the use of the land.

“This project is about more than just growing food,” said Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule. “It’s about harnessing the power of technology to reduce our dependence on traditional, resource-demanding agricultural methods. Vertical farming technology can be used to address some of the biggest challenges we face, including food security, environmental responsibility, and sustainability.”

The Vertical Farm uses a repurposed shipping container with an enclosed, controlled environment for growing plants year-round. The 40-foot-by-8-foot (320 square feet) container is designed using a vertical hydroponic growing system with a recirculating nutrient solution and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system. The Vertical Farm unit will be able to grow 4,600 plants, production equivalent to 1-2 acres of field production, using 95% less water or approximately 5 gallons of water per day.