Around port cities or even big industry citys those containers go for next to nothing. I can buy a 40' here for $3k and adapt to what id like to grow. To me it dont make sense untill the zombie apocalipse where you would need a heavy metal container. Hoop houses can be built for under $200 and have natural light. Honestly growing in one of those might just be enough for a search warrant. Lol

Only upside i really see is they are stackable so footprint could be small going vertical.

I calculate 2500 of whatever they show growing (small herbs maybe, small lettuce?) Say the trailer is $3500, That's $27 a plant. Actually not great and I see no fluid tanks or aerating system. Hopefully outside? I'm thinking it's for a pre-made compound, i.e. survivalists not wanting to setup their own green house etc. If the walls are reinforced, you can drop them into the ground and stack them; 4 units is 10,000 plants in 432,200 ft3, or 1800sq ft. Pretty compact. BUT it's small plants. I'm sure there's some market for it, but not a lot.

Agree, growtainer claims their system is patent pending. I was looking at it from the lens of... Could a guy buy a couple of these and put them on a vacant lot near where the demand is and actually turn a profit. But at $70k/per I can't imagine a reasonable roi would exist.

However, when Zombies are involved the roi changes drastically.

Let's say this thing can handle 2500 heads of lettuce at once and you have a 30 day grow cycle and 30 days per month but you want to sell some each day. You could sell about 80 heads per day. I don't know what a restaurant will pay for lettuce, but if it's $4 per head you could rake in a whopping $320 per day or about $40/hr. With the lot rental, debt service, utilities, fert, seeds, that would be greatly dilluted.

CNN Had this video regarding 'Freight Farms' today. One guy appears to have 4 or 5 in a lot and claims to have found a break-even point. At $70k per container and 2 FTEs, I still don't believe the math. CNN's Video on the Topic

Looks like a totally different arrangement than the growtainers. Vertical towers using led strips is interesting. Although I hope the heads I saw him pulling were for a demonstration and not his actual for sale crops unless he harvest's at 16-20 days those were tiny and couldn't weight worth the effort.

Any sense i think their are much more effective ways to suburban garden and cost much less. Im kinda frugal So i tend to think of more cost vs profit but some i guess want to pay for automation. I should just bite the bullet, buy a container, kratky the hell out of shelves and t8 floros and see what i could do. Lol

I could harvest, drain tray, clean, refill and plant 80 heads a day in an hr or two.

Just visited freight farms website...msrp is $82k On their growtainer....ummmm...outragous

I thought about building a room in my barn the same size and tinker with it. I suspect that guy got a deep discount to get started. I love the concept but you can buy a crazy amount of hydro gear for 82k! He still needs a water source and storage somewhere. Without a cooler everything picked would have to be delivered same day.

I'll help!

Here is the farm's website and links to other related videos. it sounds like they're doing fairly well. http://www.cornerstalk.com/2015/04/a-star-is-born.html?m=1

Here's some of his math. Does it sound reasonable?

"A one unit grows about 6,000 plants and that translates to about 60 pounds of basil a week per unit, year round," Cooney said. That’s the same yield as a traditional one acre farm plot. " What would a lb of basil sell for?

Its more finding the buyer for basil in that quantity. A 2oz package goes for $2.99 at Giant E. If sold by that aspect you could potentially get $24 a pound, but considering youll never get prime $ out of quantity say half that. So estimate $10 after everyone else gets their markup (packaging, display, coolers, storage) if you are lucky. ($600)

Now figure in nutes, seeds, water, power, media, cleaning supply, equipment failure replacement (unless warranty), lot rent, sewer, etc....give or take 10¢ a plant....$600....

Am i confused or did i just pay no one to brake even?

In the production thread here....I decided to do the 4x4 area of greens under a 400 HPS. Soon after they germinate ill be posting the results of 64 heads a month. If i had the space i would try a 5x5 but kinda restricted.

Found a new one! Only $53k!

From a company named hortamericas but at least they don't claim that this is intended for full scale crop production.

http://hortamericas.com/catalog/controlled-environment-technology/green-pod/

I guess I am too much of a builder to ever consider a pre built chamber and to me the price tag on any of these is over the budget of a hobby grower. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there is a market for them and they appear to be effective at some production as claimed but a break even point seems near impossible. I'm sure somehow they would have a place in urban gardening and if space was completely limited I see a niche market, although I live inner city I still have enough yard to grow enough veggies for quite a few families it makes me wonder where a place is that within a few miles a garden plot could not be established.