Why We Grow
As the 21st century unfolds, world population is increasing and natural resources are continually becoming strained. Big business agriculture has stripped our food of its nutrition while compromising the earth used to grow it. Water is scarce and land is at a premium. The economy is on the ropes, with fewer jobs—and even fewer good jobs. Communities are suffering as people leave to seek work in other locations or to find fulfilling jobs.
Upright Farms offers a solution to each of these concerns—a vertical growing system that provides fresh nutrient-rich produce without compromising the earth and using as little water, energy, and other natural resources as possible. On top of this, Upright Farms advocates a model that repurposes urban buildings into indoor farms, supplies fresh, healthy food to food deserts, and creates jobs in struggling communities—while generating community tax base.
The global demand for fresh water is projected to exceed supply by 40% in the year 2030. It is hard to imagine that 780 million people will have no access to fresh water, and that 2.5 billion people live with no access to sanitation facilities, or that 3 million people currently die each year from water born diseases.
Upright Farms considers water a significant and diminishing natural resource. Our farming techniques accomplish greater production using less water. Conservation, collection, and recapture—in each farm’s grow room chamber—are elements of our sustainable water philosophy. The benefit is vividly brought home when considering that China has 20% of the world population and only 7% of the world’s fresh water.
The Upright Farms concept envisions the repurposing of buildings in fringe areas to accommodate healthy living for urban populations. No longer does the farm have to be in the rural, green countryside, the country can be within the green farm building. The structure becomes a building block for the community. The building is a place to live (for the farmer), the building becomes a new kind of factory (producing food), the production creates jobs (urban commerce), the building becomes the location for fresh food (the food desert’s grocery store) and through the process, the building gets interwoven back into the fabric of the community. The fringe area becomes a focal point and destination. The urban population, through their participation, creates a healthier lifestyle. However, the building, structure, store or facility is only the outer shell of the Upright Farm’s synergetic solution. Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Upright Farms embodies this definition because all of the parts comprise the whole, and the whole is your healthy life.
The real purpose of Upright Farms is to make a difference— a difference in people’s lives, in our towns, cities, and communities, in what we eat, in where and how we get it, in where and why we work, and finally, a difference in our health and well-being. As Upright Farms continues to grow and expand into your area, the drivers of our corporate philosophy will embrace the following: