Vertical Farming on the Rise in Northern Virginia
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Photo: Area 2
Area 2 delivers fresh and sustainable produce to your door
By Tim Ebner | Edible DC
From the outside, Area 2 Farms can be hard to spot. The farm is in an unlikely place — a Shirlington, Virginia industrial park. But once inside the farm, you only have to look up to see the potential of vertical farming for a fresh supply of year-round produce, delivered straight to your door.
Tyler and Nate outside of their farming operation. Photo: Area 2
Co-founders and entrepreneurs Tyler Baras and Nate Arias are obsessive about farming and sustainability practices. And it’s why they started this indoor, vertical farm growing fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits for Washingtonians year-round.
Through technology and engineering, Area 2 Farms has created what is essentially high-density, urban farming using minimal space and organic farming practices.
“ What we are growing here you aren’t always going to find at the farmers market,” Arias says. “For example, we grow different varieties of lettuce, carrots, and herbs that are rare and focus on delicious flavors.”
This fall, the list of crops includes cheese leaf, which tastes like blue cheese. Purple shamrock, which tastes like green apple. And roots and fruits — everything from squash to leeks and celery, plus onions, carrots, and peppers.
Area 2 Farms grows its produce using a multi-level, vertical, conveyor belt farm that replicates a plant's day cycle. It’s best seen from above in this video, available here at this link.
The technology helps reduce energy outputs and increases plant yields. Plus, the entire system is based on circularity.
For instance, a zero-waste nutrient cycling compost system allows Arias to use organic materials from the waste of revolving plant trays.
And you won’t find harmful chemicals here. The farms’ Insects in Harmony program ensures the entire site is pesticide free.
“We not only focus on organic farming, but also rotating and growing different produce based on the seasons,” Arias says.
That includes salad greens known as “fall colors” — a multi-color lettuce blend with rainbow Swiss chard, and a cabbage patch mix, which includes red and green oakleaf, red cabbage, and purple kohlrabi.
Photo: Area 2
In each box you will find various microgreens and herbs including watercress, dill, sage, garlic chives, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sweet marjoram, and parsley
“Our goal is to deliver you something different, so you can experiment and play with your food as you cook,” says Oren Falkowitz who heads up operations for Area 2 Farms.
This includes a plant called Buzz Buttons, which really are nature’s Pop Rocks candy. When consumed, the flowers give a mouth a numbing, tingling sensation and stimulate the salivary glands inducing a natural cooling effect.
To get up-close and personal to this produce and other weird but satisfyingly delicious veggies, you can visit the farm and do a tour.
“We want to get you as close to our produce as possible,” Falkowitz says. “And eventually we are hoping to expand in DC, so we are building new farms as close to our customer base as possible.”
Currently, Area 2 Farms can deliver freshly-picked produce to customers within a 10 miles of their facility which includes Northern Virginia, as well as parts of Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Their fall program is now open to orders, which can be placed online.
