Shelving health with FarmShelf

The+Farmshelf+enterprise+was+founded+in+2016+and+offers+an+eco-friendly+way+to+grow+various+plants+and+herbs.+

Miaira Raiford

The Farmshelf enterprise was founded in 2016 and offers an eco-friendly way to grow various plants and herbs.

Miaira Raiford, Contributing Writer

Similar to Pace University, Kessel’s goal is to remain on the cutting-edge of advancements and make sure that the student body thrives. In wanting to give back to what the Setters have granted to them, the dining center has recently provided a FarmShelf to store and grow fresher ingredients so that students are able to purchase easy, fast and healthy choices.

Photographed by: Miaira Raiford

It is not hard to miss this LED-lit storage box in the middle of the dining hall,  and providing bright lights for thyme, cilantro, mint, and other well-known herbs and greens growing in tiny pots and separated in their own groups. But as a whole, what exactly is this piece of machinery?

In terms of the brand name, FarmShelf is an indoor-run farming company that provides on-site installations for food service providers, schools, restaurants and hotels. The product itself, correspondingly named after the steadily progressing agri-business, is essentially a bookcase-sized farm that, when installed, speeds up plant growth in a healthy and cost-effective way. With speeds more than twice as fast as rural methods, it uses 90 percent less water than conventional farming, and it is completely pesticide, herbicide and soil free.

As reported by CrunchBase, each FarmShelf is “plug-and-play, allowing you to sit back and watch your plants grow.” The company offers over 50 options of leafy greens, herbs, edible flowers and micro-greens.

The use of this product does more than support chefs with direct access to a variety of herbs and provide students and staff with garden-fresh produce. In a way, the FarmShelf behaves as a sort of beneficial and educational tool to accentuate the idea to students of the nourishing attributes, supplements, and better flavor that fresh vegetables and greens can add to their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Yet, FarmShelf does not take an immediate backseat to catering for university dining halls in a small county. The enterprise was founded in January of 2016 and in the rising four years of its business, it has managed over 100 units in New York, Houston, Washington D.C., Austin, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, and Milwaukee. It has engaged with over 15 partnerships in the span of its steady growth, and not too long ago in September of 2019, FarmShelf saw an additional ten primary school systems and multiple university agreements on board for wanting to be partnered with their innovative indoor farming equipment. This included the University of Illinois at Chicago, with the latter in full agreement to have FarmShelf launch its exclusive hardware and hydroponic technology for plant growth in the Midwest within the next month.

Their overall mission, according to Andrew Shearer, founder and CEO of FarmShelf from a source on Business Wire, is to bring “indoor farming to as many establishments as we can, including academic settings, food services and restaurants… essentially wherever fresh produce is used.”