California State University, Northridge
IN-49: Innovation C

One of the many impacts of COVID-19 has been the financial impact on many of our students. This financial impact has exacerbated the already challenging problem of food insecurity many of our students and students throughout the CSU are facing. Freight Farms offers the Greenery S which is a commercial-scale, vertical, hydroponic farm built inside an intermodal freight container. It is capable of growing lettuces, leafy greens, herbs, brassicas, certain root vegetables, edible flowers, and many other crops in any location, regardless of exterior climate. This containerized farm requires 20 hours of labor per week and would provide nutrient-rich healthy foods for our students and campus community and help CSUN address our campus community’s food insecurity challenges. With the existing food pantry being in high demand and the new facility being added in the USU to continue our commitment to helping our campus community with these issues – this is a perfect solution to help us further our support of this segment of our population. The Freight Farm has been purchased and is currently being built, the onsite preparation of the facility where it will be located is currently under construction with a project completion date of Feb 2022.