SALAD DAYS: High-tech, efficient farming blossoms in downtown Raleigh.

• Date: 01 November 2022
• Author: Barkin, Dan

In one of the state's fastest-developing commercial areas, leafy greens bound for restaurants are growing in shipping containers because of an innovative agriculture technology company and a resourceful Raleigh entrepreneur. Boston-based Freight Farms sells the boxes, which are designed to efficiently grow food in almost any location with available power and water access.

Trevor Spear, who bought two 320-square-foot containers three years ago, operates them on a lot sandwiched between Raleighs red-hot Boylan Heights and Warehouse District neighborhoods, about three blocks east of the Raleigh Convention Center. One container's output is the equivalent of a 2.5-acre farm.

The climate-controlled 40-foot container, which costs about $ 149,000, is an insulated hydroponic farm, filled with racks of gourmet lettuce. Near the front, there's a nursery where young plants grow.

At three weeks, they're transplanted to 88 vertical panels with five channels, with as many as 50 plants per channel. Salanova...