By Maddison Mayer
It seems that every day, we read about a new food-borne illness or hear about the latest recall of tainted produce causing parents to panic about what’s actually in our food we feed our children. Fortunately, families on The West Side have a simple solution that’s closer and simpler than you might think…
Just outside of Los Angeles in Colton CA, the new headquarters is nearly finished for tech company Grow Pod Solutions – a mobile, indoor, organic micro-farming system that grows the highest quality food in a controlled environment, free from contaminants, pathogens and pesticides.
Revolutionizing the farming industry of the 21st century, Grow Pod Solutions not only found a solution for foodborne illnesses like E. coli, but the controlled environment also eradicates the fear of fires, droughts, floods and other natural disasters.
The founder and owner of the company, Shannon Illingworth, widely considered the Father of Modern Vending, who coined the term “automated retailing”, saw a gap in the agriculture industry after getting E. coli at a restaurant and was passionate to find a solution. After in-depth research and development, he created a system where the origin of food can actually be traced with an app on your phone. The advanced technology allows you to grow your own vegetables, fruits and herbs anytime, anywhere in the world in all environments and climates.
Customized for each individual’s produce needs, Grow Pod Solutions are designed from insulated, food-grade shipping containers that have been modified to provide the optimum controlled environment to grow a wide range of horticultural and agricultural products, providing consumers with a predictable yield harvest after harvest.
The company now produces these custom containers for restaurants, hotels, farmers, casinos, grocery stores, investors and entrepreneurs throughout North America.
“We offer hydroponic – vertical pod’s, soil based – stacker pod’s and custom based pod’s depending on what you need,” says Illingworth. He also explained how the pod’s can be designed as a show piece for restaurants, hotels, grocery stores or retrofitted to look like part of your home depending on what you are looking for in your business or personal life.
One of the benefits of the pod’s is that they can be easily transported, allowing cultivation to take place virtually anywhere. This significantly cuts down on distribution times and costs and gives consumers access to fresh, vine-ripened produce.
“We’ve created a new generation of superfoods that is better than organic called Organic+,” says Illingworth. Illingworth explained how the produce doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles to get to your table and the sealed system allows your produce to be safe from pollution, pesticides and other chemicals that outdoor farming is normally exposed to – so it’s actually healthier for you.
One of the main differences that Grow Pod Solutions has from other indoor micro-farms on the market, is that it combines hydroponics and proprietary organic, reusable, plant based living soil and nutrients. This not only makes them more eco-friendly, as the system uses 90% less water, and 80% less waste, but it also allows them to grow faster with a higher more consistent yield while still cultivating that high-end flavor for consumers to enjoy.
The pod’s also contain state-of-the-art air and water filtration along with secured access, tunable lighting, and automation systems that controls virtually all the cultivation processes like humidity, temperature, Co2 and lighting from a computer or cellphone through the company’s exclusive Online Communication Module.
“The system provides growers with real-time information and alerts on all growing environment changes providing an efficient and easy-to-operate system for all users so anyone can use it,” says Illingworth. “The system can be set up in just a few hours, and then monitored and adjusted from anywhere in the world via the company’s online portal,” adds Illingworth.
Grow Pod Solutions new headquarters plans to open this summer in July.
For more information visit https://www.growpodsolutions.com/.
