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Vertical Farms in Shipping Containers Coming to Brooklyn This Fall

By Camille Bautista | August 25, 2016 5:46pm | Updated on August 26, 2016 4:44pm
 Square Roots, a new urban farming accelerator, will bring vertical farms to shipping containers in Brooklyn this fall, according to the organization.
Square Roots, a new urban farming accelerator, will bring vertical farms to shipping containers in Brooklyn this fall, according to the organization.
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BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Brooklyn will get a little greener this fall with the launch of a new farming initiative.

Kimbal Musk, co-founder of restaurant chain The Kitchen and younger brother of engineer Elon Musk, is bringing an urban farming accelerator to the borough, according to an online announcement.

Square Roots aims to train young entrepreneurs to grow and sell fresh and local food year-round, and will be based in the parking lot of the old Pfizer building at 630 Flushing Ave., according to reports.

“Sadly, many people in our biggest cities are at the mercy of industrial food,” Musk wrote in a Medium post announcing the new project.

“The industrial food system ships in high-calorie, low-nutrient, processed food from thousands of miles away. It leaves us disconnected from our food and the people who grow it.”

Square Roots’ goal is to “enable a whole new generation of real food entrepreneurs, ready to build thriving, responsible businesses,” he added.

The indoor, vertical farms will take root inside 320-square-foot shipping containers, and yield produce that would be the annual equivalent of two acres of outdoor farmland.

Following the planned Brooklyn launch, the organization looks to replicate farm “campuses” across the country, Musk wrote.

The initiative is co-founded by fellow entrepreneur, Tobias Peggs.

Participants will learn skills from a network of coaches and mentors, covering the basics of everything from hydroponic farming to farmer’s markets, according to the organization’s website.

A representative for Square Roots could not be immediately reached for comment.

The organization is taking applications online for its upcoming program.