The Singapore-based company Grobrix brings vertical hydroponic gardens to indoor urban spaces. Green City Growers in Boston is now partnering with Grobrix to bring these gardens to the United States.
Grobrix founder Mathew Howe tells Food Tank that both Scandinavian principles, and the concept of Lego blocks, inspired the design. Anyone can install a Grobrix garden–in workplaces, hotels, or private homes. The only requirements are electricity, water, and enough space for the vertical wall unit.
Customers pay a one-time installation fee, and a monthly service fee, and leave the rest to Grobrix. Each plant “plug” starts in their nursery, and upon installation benefits from a special light blend that supports optimal plant growth. The hydroponic system operates as a closed loop, which means access to a water main is not necessary.
“Everything is automated,” Howe says. This makes a smooth farming experience for customers, even without previous farming knowledge. “We think everyone should be an urban farmer, if only for one hour a week,” he tells Food Tank.
Customers can choose their level of involvement. Grobrix staff can provide workshops on urban farming, farm to table meals, and herbal tea and infusions from the harvest.
Green City Growers (GCG), based in the U.S., has been supporting urban farm development since 2008. Operating with a similar philosophy as Grobrix, GCG designs, installs, and maintains urban gardens for clients in the Boston area, reaching everyone from school-age children to seniors. The company’s educational team encourages engagement through wellness programming, K-12 educational programming, and pop-up events.
“Successful gardens are the best tool for educating the next generation of environmentalists,” GCG President Christopher Grallert tells Food Tank.
The GCG team offers a wide array of urban garden models from raised beds to rooftops. And they are now partnering with Grobrix as an indoor growing option. Grallert says that Grobrix’s practical approach drew his attention. “In farming, as in many businesses, complexity is the enemy.” The simplicity of Grobrix “underpins its success,” he tells Food Tank.
GCG works in more than 50 Boston Public Schools and according to Grallert the “accessible and functional” hydroponic systems that Grobrix provides allows them to “deliver objective, realistic, and engaging programs that promote food system literacy.”
Both organizations share a vision for “a localized, participatory food system,” Grallert says. And adds Howe, “communities should have a closer relationship with the source of their food.”
And Howe says that food is a powerful connector, stating that “food has this unique way of bringing people together and we believe it can create communities where people can come together and learn.”
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Photo courtesy of Grobrix
