FITCHBURG — Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School hosted a grand opening on Sept. 16 for its Freight Farm, an 8-ton shipping container that will produce 1,450 heads of leafy greens each month to be used for the school’s cafeteria and culinary arts program as well as donated to the local community.
The hydroponic farm, a collaboration between Leominster nonprofit Growing Places and Monty Tech, was purchased with a $176,600 grant from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The shipping container is retrofitted with climate-controlled, water-based growing apparatus and is able to produce the equivalent of an acre’s worth of land using just a fraction of the water typically used to grow produce using conventional methods and will provide business, engineering, and environmental science curriculum opportunities for the students.