Colorado-based FarmBox Foods expands to address food insecurity and sustainability

What if putting a farm in a box could feed people in food-insecure areas and increase sustainability? One Sedalia-based company says it's doing just that.

If you've eaten at Denver restaurant group Edible Beats, or shopped at stores like Natural Grocers, chances are you've eaten something grown in one of Farmbox Foods' containers and didn't even know it.

When a CBS Colorado news crew visited their office recently, a Farmbox Foods employee pulled a tray of barley from a shelf and into a wheelbarrow before transporting it to the back of a Denver Zoo truck. The barley was grown inside a repurposed shipping container, with just seeds and water.

"We found that even grizzly bears, giraffes, kangaroos -- all types of animals are able to eat the fodder in its entirety," said Farmbox Foods COO Joseph Cammack.

The barley was on its way to be dinner for an animal at the Denver Zoo.

Inside another container next door, a hydroponic farm grows herbs and leafy greens, while another grows gourmet mushrooms.

"With our containers, we're able to meet some of the challenges that traditional farming has struggled with," Cammack said.

Cammack says the climate-controlled containers use 95% less water than traditional farming and are more energy efficient. They can grow food year-round, in harsh climates, and urban environments.

"It only takes up about five parking spaces to land one of these containers, so you can land these in the middle of a city and be growing 2.5 acres annually right there behind a restaurant," Cammack said.

The container farm-to-table concept also eliminates the food loss and the environmental toll of supply chain food transport.

Farmbox sells the containers to restaurants, schools, grocery chains, health care systems, farmers, ranchers and wholesalers.

"At Farmbox Foods, we believe that no one should go hungry, and our mission is to 'innovate to feed the world,'" Cammack said.

Seven years after launching as a startup, Farmbox is expanding, partnering with tech firm "New Alternative Green Energy" to send 450 of their containers across the world.

"We're really focusing on some of these other countries that need it most, like Haiti, Bolivia and Ethiopia," Cammack said.

In the next six years, Farmbox hopes the partnership will create 100 million servings of food, and an estimated $100 million in revenue for Farmbox.

Along with the tech firm, they recently discussed the role of public-private partnerships in sustainability at "Climate Week NYC."

"Climate resiliency has come to the forefront. Everyone is acknowledging that this is something that we need to be responsible for and those who can take action should take action," Cammack said.

Through a partnership with Core Electric, Farmbox Foods is also working to grow tiny seedlings into trees that will reforest burn scars in Colorado.