The Farm of the Future: Green Sky Growers

The farm of the future is growing today in an unlikely place– on the roof of a retail building in a sleepy suburb near Orlando, Florida.  Green Sky Growers is a true technical marvel, a state of the art farm which is one part laboratory and one part organic garden.  It raises thousands of pounds of fish and vegetables every year using a mutually-beneficial farming technique called aquaponics.  Green Sky Growers raises everything from tilapia to perch, herbs to tomatoes, delivering them fresh to the public and a hungry group of local restaurateurs.  If you enjoy a dish of striped bass and leafy greens at the restaurant below, you may have no idea that the ingredients were sourced from 50 feet above.

What makes Green Sky Growers different from your average farm is their focus on state-of-the-art technology.  Their two combined greenhouses are managed by custom software that measures environmental conditions and adjusts the conditions inside.  On breezy, warm mornings, the greenhouse software will open the wall shutters to allow breezes through and to keep the inside temperature in a healthy range.  Once the mid-day sun heats the greenhouse toward suboptimal temperatures, the software opens a shade system which covers the glass roof above.  If temperatures rise above manageable levels, chillers will lower the water temperature to keep the fish healthy.  Everything is automated– the software system has a temperature goal and will automatically adjust a range of variables to maintain that temperature indoors.

The fish are everywhere at Green Sky Growers.  There are five main tanks which house hundreds of fish per tank.  During our visit, there were three tanks of tilapia, one tank of striped bass and a fifth tank in preparation for the arrival of perch fingerlings.  The tanks are massive, and the fish within them are happy.  An automated feeder drops feed into each tank at regular intervals.  While the fish do congregate near the windows during feedings, they have space to roam and they are free from predators throughout their growth cycle.