Controlled Environment for Plant Production

The rise of food deserts, areas in which affordable and nutritious food is hard to find, prompted this project to design and build a compact and efficient hydroponic system housed within a shipping container that can be transported to such areas. The constrained area of the shipping container led to a design using two high-density growth hydroponic systems covering 200 square feet, in which Butterhead lettuce was grown in deep flow and nutrient film technique systems. Development of specifications and design of the lighting, nutrient, and growth system was based on research by the agricultural and biosystems engineering department and consultation with engineering experts. This mobile engineered system gives food desert communities the power to end the drought.