The Bright Agrotech ZipFarm™

Blog Exclusives from Urban Ag News
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The Story of ZipFarm

Starting a farm is nearly impossible to the farmer with low capital, no crew, and no farmland.

These requirements help no one; they only keep great farmers from farming. But what if starting a farm required only a small portion of the startup capital, only a small space, and only one person? It would be great! In fact, we think that this is ideal.
In this case, the one person would need only a few things: equipment that can fit into a small space, a way to start small and scale slowly, and the information on how to be a farmer.
This is what the ZipFarm does. It allows the one person to start their farm.
“One person with conviction can go out and do something powerful,” says Nate Storey. “But when that person has to go out and recruit a team, and then they’ve got to go raise money, and then they’ve got to do X, and Y and Z in order to accomplish their goal… it just complicates things. It makes it so much harder than finding one person and saying,
‘You can do this. Your market is ready. You have the capability. Here’s the equipment. Here’s the information. Here’s the knowledge.
Go do it.’ “

Nate Storey. CEO, Bright Agrotech

Features

The ZipFarm is a vertical hydroponic system consisting of a Light Rack (1) to holdLumiGrow LED lights (3), and three individual ZipRacks (2) outfitted with ZipGrow Towers (4).

Light Rack

The entire growing operation fits under the Light Rack, a 6 foot X 7.6 foot (or 9.6 foot) X 18 foot steel rack. Where other systems must fit into facilities hundreds of feet long and scale by huge areas, the ZipFarm can be scaled in these small units.

ZipRacks

The ZipRacks are on wheels, making the racks easy to move around your space. One person can move several ZipFarms in just a few minutes, making maintenance and cleaning easy. All plumbing is connected with quick-connect fittings, which require a just a simple hand movement to connect and disconnect, so adding ZipRacks is a quick and simple affair.

ZipGrow Towers

The ZipFarm uses hydroponics, a soil-less growing technique, and delivers the perfect nutrient ratios to plants via water. The water is mixed in the main sump tanks, and an optional add-on may be selected to control pH and nutrient levels automatically. Unlike many indoor growing system, the ZipFarm uses vertical growing planes. This increases production by square foot while keeping labor costs down.

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