Square Roots combines community sourced agriculture with a startup accelerator-style program to bring fresh food to Brooklyn. Opened in November 2016 by Kimbal Musk and Tobias Pegg, Square Roots has created an urban farm near the old Pfizer building just off the Flushing Avenue G subway stop in Williamsburg.

All of the farming is done within shipping containers by entrepreneurs who have been accepted to the Square Roots program. The 13 month program teaches farmer-entrepreneurs not just how to farm, but also how to start and run a business. Square Roots aims to empower these farming entrepreneurs to foster a fundamental change in the food industry. Cities frequently run on high calorie, low nutrient food shipped from far away. By nurturing local farming businesses, Square Roots hopes to make real food accessible to all.

The entrepreneurs do their farming vertically and without soil, using LED lights to provide heat and light to their plants. The shipping containers feed the plants nutrient-rich water, some of them consuming as little as 10 recycled gallons a day — less than an average shower. Critics have expressed concern about the electricity consumed by such farming methods, so the Square Roots team is investigating solar power as a sustainable energy source.

Square Roots farmers sell the greens they harvest through three different channels: individuals, restaurants, and retail. For as little as $7 per week, individuals can receive fresh, delicious greens curated by a Square Roots farmer. If that’s not enough, Square Roots offers bigger plans for up to $35 per week. New York restaurants can elevate their ingredients by partnering with a Square Roots farmer. In doing so, they have a say in crop planning, receive ingredients tailored to their menu, and participate in special events at Square Roots. It offers a level of ingredient control otherwise unparalleled, short of the restaurant growing their own food. Finally, Square Roots farmers also work with specialty stores to sell their ingredients directly to the people.

Square Roots is changing urban farming completely, and hopes to expand to 20 cities by 2020. They’ve expanded their operations into the Pfizer building, a fitting use for a plant that used to supply chemicals to the industrial food system Square Roots is combating. With their second ‘season’ in full swing, Square Roots co-founder and CEO Tobias Peggs chatted with OurBKSocial about Brooklyn, the company’s genesis, and his outlook for the future.

OBKS: Why did Square Roots choose Brooklyn for its home? How has the neighborhood been?

The world’s population is growing, and urbanizing quickly. By 2050 there will be 9 billion people on the planet, and 70% will live in cities. These people need feeding — and they will want local food. If we can find a solution in NYC then as the rest of the world increasingly looks like NYC our solution will work there too.

When Kimbal Musk and I co-founded Square Roots in 2016 we chose Brooklyn because of the amazing people who live here and access to space. Brooklyn has an incredible pool of young, progressive individuals who are interested in stepping out on a limb and trying something new – like becoming a young farmer in the middle of the city! Brooklyn’s close proximity to Manhattan provides incredible demand for our greens from the hundreds of restaurants and skyscrapers filled with filled with people demanding real food.

We chose the Pfizer building specifically because we wanted to join forces with the local food companies in the building. This building can also be seen as the birthplace of industrial food… It was the largest manufacturer of ammonia used for fertilizers. So, in an act of poetic justice, we now have a local farm on the parking lot.

What inspired the idea for the hybrid urban farm/startup accelerator?

Given the the demand for real food coupled with the world’s population growth, we need to figure out how to grow real food in the city, at scale, as quickly as possible.

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The industrial food system is not going to solve the demand for real food. Instead, this presents an extraordinary opportunity for a new generation of entrepreneurs — those who understand urban agriculture, community, and the power of real, local food. Kimbal and I believe that this opportunity is bigger than the internet was when we started out careers 20 years ago. So we set up Square Roots as a platform to empower the next generation to become entrepreneurial leaders in this real food revolution. With Square Roots we can work alongside them to tackle this internet-sized opportunity.

How does SR intend to grow? Are other cities on the horizon? If so, which city/cities might be next?

We’re in Brooklyn today, but will open in more US cities in 2018, and ultimately we’d like to be in every city in the world. We’re off to a great start — training farmers, engaging communities, growing and selling a ton of food – but there’s so much more to do.

We are in our second season of Square Roots at our Brooklyn farming campus and we are eyeing the following cities to open new Square Roots campuses: Chicago, Denver, Memphis, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and a possible second site in New York.

How has the program changed from the first class of entrepreneurs to the next? What has the SR team learned?

It keeps building on itself. Our first cohort learned the concept of “pay it forward” [and] helping the next class learn about the farm and about the biz models. There are new challenges with the second class of course — but that comes with tackling new ideas. For example, our farmers are now selling regularly in retail local NYC stores like Foragers, Green Grape and FoodKick. We didn’t do this last year and it’s great for our farmers to learn about these new models.

What’s the most important thing for OurBKSocial’s readers to know about SR?

We can’t say “Thank You!” enough to everyone who has supported us so far. If you want to get involved, follow Square Roots on social, sign up for our newsletter, come to a farm tour, or support your farmer and buy some local, real food. The more of us working towards the real food revolution the better!

What’s going to be SR’s biggest challenge in the next year?

Our biggest challenge — and our biggest opportunity — is to make sure we’re growing really tasty food every day. Farming is a skill and a daily challenge but we love doing it and hopefully that comes through in the taste of the food.