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Farm in a box: Shipping containers reused for fresh produce

BOSTON (AP) — A Boston company is turning shipping containers into high-tech mobile farms as part of a new wave of companies hoping to bring more innovation to agriculture. Freight Farms and other indoor agriculture companies are focused on growing produce in non-traditional farming spaces like...

BOSTON (AP) — A Boston company is turning shipping containers into high-tech mobile farms as part of a new wave of companies hoping to bring more innovation to agriculture.

Freight Farms and other indoor agriculture companies are focused on growing produce in non-traditional farming spaces like warehouses, industrial buildings and containers.

They're using hydroponics and other longstanding methods to grow plants without soil and incorporating new technologies to automate much of the work.

Brad McNamara, co-founder of Freight Farms, says companies like his can help meet the growing demand for high quality, locally-grown produce with less impact to the environment than traditional farms.

Freight Farms says its units use 90 percent less water and take up just 320-square-feet of space.

They're already being used by Google in California and Stony Brook University in New York, among other places.

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