FEATURE | i n n o v a t i o n
Food for the Masses
Brick Street Farms Takes Hydroponic Vertical Farming to Urban Communities by TERESA SCHIFFER
W
WITH THE GLOBAL POPULATION now nearly 8 billion with no signs of slowing any time soon, each passing year it becomes more imperative that we develop the most efficient methods of providing nutritious food for people in a sustainable fashion. Brick Street Farms is a leading innovator when it comes to feeding Floridians, and Shannon O’Malley is committed to doing this in a viable and ecologically friendly manner. O’Malley is the CEO and co-founder of Brick Street Farms, a St. Petersburg company that created a climate-controlled agriculture and hydroponic farming system that transforms shipping containers into urban farms. She and her husband, Bradley Doyle, got the inspiration for their urban farms in late 2015 and officially started Brick Street Farms in 2016. Neither came from an agricultural background.
10 | CFAN
Native Floridian Brad Doyle is a software developer, while O’Malley was an electrical engineer for Duke Energy hailing from Pennsylvania. In her home state, O’Malley was a Master Gardener, but upon moving to Florida, she discovered that her green thumb didn’t transplant so well into the radically different climate and environment. O’Malley recalls the rocky beginnings of what
would ultimately become a very successful venture, “I started Brick Street Farms as a backyard hobby. I started in a raised garden bed, and I was just pretty awful at it.” She then moved her horticultural efforts indoors, converting the couple’s garage to an automated hydroponic garden. As time went on, O’Malley and Doyle began looking to expand, eyeing warehouses as potential growing sites. When the rent proved too steep for consideration, inspiration struck – shipping containers! These provided a controllable environment, plus they could be relocated. THRIVE containers and Brick Street Farms were born from this realization. “We bought a few shipping containers, and we FloridaAgNews.com
