Tax credit to jump-start sustainable food production program at food bank
Producing year-round sustainable agriculture products and providing educational opportunities are just two of the goals Greater Washington County Food Bank hopes to accomplish with the $110,000 state tax credit it received at the beginning of this year.
The funds will go toward the creation of new infrastructure for a hydroponics program at the food bank’s Centerville headquarters. With the hydroponics program, or the use of repurposed, insulated shipping containers for crop production, the food bank will be able to grow large quantities of fruits and vegetables throughout the year.
“It’s basically vertical gardening,” Connie Burd, executive director at the food bank, said. “Each pod will be growing fruits and vegetables 365 days a year.”
Inside the containers are rows of plants, which have LED lights above them tuned to the proper color for optimal growth. Tubes for watering are scattered throughout, creating a semi-autonomous system of growing. The food bank announced the tax credit and other grants from local businesses will help pay for the salary of a farm manager to oversee the insulated gardens.
Burd said a single 40-foot container has the potential to grow up to two acres’ worth of crops, drastically cutting down the space required to grow, while at the same time increasing total crop yield.
Once up and running, the food bank is looking to experiment with different herbs and fruits to see which perform best in the controlled climate of the hydroponic containers.
A second goal for the project is to provide an educational experience for citizens throughout Washington County. University students will help with the planning, architecture and maintenance of the containers.
“This is a wonderful endeavor that will utilize local students to build and operate the system,” Burd said.
With future goals of attaching solar panels to the containers and collecting water runoff from the main building, the food bank is hoping to educate and offer curriculum for visitors and volunteers about the benefits of renewable energies.
Burd said none of this could be possible without the tax credit from Harrisburg and other grants obtained throughout the year, as the initial cost alone of such a project is out of the food bank’s operating budget. This funding, Burd said, will jump-start the project, which has been under development for the past six months.
“Just the infrastructure for something like that is pretty cost-prohibitive,” Burd said. “But with these grants, we’re able to put it all together, and then we’ll be producing in such a way that we are going to be able to provide healthier food for our clients.”
The chief architect for the hydroponics program and economic development agricultural liaison for the food bank, Brian Allen, believes it is important for people to re-examine the purpose of a food bank in a community and to disassociate any stigma that might come with it.
“The food bank is very good at what it does,” Allen said.
“But that never truly addresses the underlying causal of hunger in the first place – food insecurity.”
Allen hopes this program, and the many others he has lined up after it for the next seven years, will cement the food bank’s role in the community as a place for everyone to benefit from, while at the same time serving as an effective resource to combat food insecurity.