Page 31 - summer17
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F S U Jacob Chinn photo
A T P Margaret Kimball illustrations
R R aul Hardej doesn’t sound like
M A Pabout soybeans, cotton or corn,
a farmer. Rather than talking
he talks about economies of scale,
technology challenges and commercial
applications. And you aren’t likely to
I I find dirt under his nails. But the Austin-
based agricultural pioneer understands
the brave frontier of indoor farming —
controlled-environment agriculture —
that’s changing the way we think about
N G growing food.
Hardej is the co-founder of Civic
Farms, a Texas startup that’s partnering
with the UA to grow produce inside one
G H of the diaphanous “lungs” of Biosphere
2. The Biosphere began life in the 1980s
as an experimental, self-contained world
in which groups of people were sealed
for long periods to help test technologies
T for colonizing space. The role of the
lungs was to relieve pressure inside the
enormous glass facility.
by Tim Vanderpool
SUMMER 2017 29
