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US (AR): University of Arkansas gets own Freight Farm

Five hundred heads of lettuce per week are being grown on campus by Chartwells to be served in the dining halls.

The lettuce is grown in a Freight Farm container, a product of the Boston-based company Freight Farms, is located near the Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences building and the Northwest Quad.

Ashley Meek, the campus dietician for Chartwells, and Merrisa Jennings, a Chartwells student intern, helped orchestrate the project to bring Freight Farms to the UofA.

The project began in May and is a part of Chartwells’ efforts to be more transparent in where the food that is served comes from, Meek said.

The farm will typically provide 500 heads of lettuce per week that are grown without the use of pesticides, Meek said.

Unlike the experimental garden on the Arkansas Union rooftop in the spring, the farm’s climate-controlled environment protects the plants from wind damage, pests and the heat of the sun, Meek said.

A lack of pests eating away at the produce creates beautiful heads of lettuce, Jennings said.

Jennings, a senior biological engineering major, was brought on as an intern to help address the sustainability side of the project and said that the farm helps campus look more sustainable.

Read more at The Arkansas Traveler
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