A new aeroponic garden in the University of Coloardo (Boulder) Village Center Dining and Community Commons is the first in the nation to provide students, staff and faculty with fresh salad greens grown on site in a high-tech greenhouse attached to a dining hall.

The “air garden” will help the university reduce its carbon footprint, cut energy costs and eliminate the need for harvesting, cleaning, packing and transporting food from outside farms.

The greenhouse in CU Boulder’s Village Center Dining and Community Commons occupies nearly 3,000 south-facing square feet and consists of 137 grow towers able to produce 44 plants each without soil.

“Locally grown food just tastes better,” said Farm Manager Alex Macmillan, a horticulturalist and organic farmer who will oversee the greenhouse and its production schedule.

 

Continue reading at University of Coloardo (Boulder).

Image via University of Coloardo (Boulder).