Boot Camp Farms Employs Veterans to Battle Food Deserts
East End of Bridgeport, Connecticut (PRWEB) January 07, 2014 -- Plans are quickly moving forward for a new urban agriculture center in the Northeast. Boot Camp Farms has developed an innovative agricultural solution employing hydroponic growing systems manufactured by American Hydroponics for a community in transition, blighted by environmentally degraded brownfields.
Locals used to call the blighted brownfields in the East End of Bridgeport, Connecticut, "Mt. Trash More," but Boot Camp Farms has much greener plans for the area. Working with Bridgeport city officials, the state of Connecticut, and the EPA, Boot Camp Farms is remediating and revitalizing the site. In September, the company officially broke ground on their flagship farm, which will include 80,000 sq. ft. of controlled environment greenhouses.
Boot Camp Farms chose Nexus greenhouse systems for the project. Jeff Warschauer from Nexus explained that Boot Camp Farm’s urban agriculture center will be home to state-of-the-art Nexus Glass Vail Atrium greenhouses with hot water heating, state-of-the-art cooling systems, energy curtains, automated controls, and hydroponic growing systems manufactured by American Hydroponics.
Currently, the future farm site is being graded and the project is in the final stages of permitting and financing. The first phase of the project will include 38,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse space and then the second phase will add 40,000 sq. ft. across the street.
When fully built, the greenhouses will be capable of producing 800,000 pounds of fresh produce per year. Some of the produce will be sold to Bridgeport residents at subsidized prices in an adjacent retail center, helping to alleviate Bridgeport’s urban food desert.
You may be wondering what inspired the name, Boot Camp Farms. Well, Boot Camp Farms Founder and CEO, Antonio St. Lorenzo, has long been devoted to helping our veterans and his devotion didn’t stop with this latest agricultural venture. The company wants to train and employ veterans, in partnership with the University of Connecticut’s College of Agriculture, to work in the greenhouses. They expect to create about 40 fulltime green collar jobs for the community.
For more information on hydroponic growing systems manufactured by American Hydroponics contact Scott Kornberg 800.458.6543 ext 317 or visit them online at http://www.amhydro.com/products/commercial.
James Basbas, Altos Marketing, http://www.AltosMarketing.com, (603) 222 9052, [email protected]
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