Santa Fe Startup Launches Kickstarter Campaign to Prepare for Possible Food Shortage

SANTA FE, N.M., April 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary and Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, recently warned that climate change is causing serious droughts, wildfires and other concerns throughout the world. Richardson and other experts fear that climate change will lead to serious food shortages in the near future. FarmPod is a Santa Fe based startup that is helping to address the problem by developing highly efficient food production containers known as FarmPods.

The company recently launched a Kickstarter campaign ( http://kickstarter.farminapod.com ) to raise the capital needed to construct their first food production unit. Michael Straight and Scott Humason, the founders of FarmPod, aim to raise $25,000 with their initial fundraising initiative. The initial funding will be used to purchase the materials needed to create their first food production unit.

The KickStarter campaign began on April 4 and will continue until May 14. FarmPod raised 9% of the funds needed to meet its goal within the first three days. Straight and his team are confident that they will reach their target before the deadline, but are asking interested donors to pledge money as soon as possible.

Straight states that FarmPod will change the relationship that people have with their food. "It is important because people deserve access to healthy, quality, nutrient rich food that doesn't destroy the planet in the process and to do so in an economically viable manner." He wants people to be prepared for the food shortage that is expected to strike in the coming years.

Straight, Humason and their team claim that a FarmPod is able to create twice as much food as a plot of soil that takes up a quarter of the space. Their solution is at least 95% more efficient than soil farming. They stated that a single FarmPod can produce over a hundred pounds of food in a single week.

The team has been working hard for over a year to create their first FarmPod. They are excited that they are so close to introducing their concept to the market. FarmPods will be available to any organization that wishes to be more self-sufficient and develop a closer relationship with their food. Restaurants, food kitchens, hospitals and neighborhood markets are expected to be some of the company's biggest customers. Straight said that schools throughout the country may also purchase FarmPod to help students learn more about producing food.

"This is an amazing teaching tool," said Straight. "You wind up teaching kids not just fish and farming, but all about systems, automation, the environment, so much. Best of all they learn about taking care of themselves and their communities and they derive all the health benefits of organic, natural foods."

There will probably be a large demand for FarmPods in the near future. California and the Midwest, the two largest food producing regions in the country, are undergoing one of the worst droughts in decades. Agricultural firms are warning that food prices will skyrocket in the coming year, but the problem may become even worse in the near future. The  U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the world may face a serious food shortage in the coming years. FarmPod and other innovative companies should alleviate some of the pain that people across the world would otherwise endure.

FarmPod is a patent pending revolutionary vertical aquaponic food production system that is both off grid and automated.  The basic FarmPod unit will produce 100+ pounds of fresh healthy organic produce a week utilizing an extremely small footprint (only 8'x20' of land space!). With more people than ever on this planet, the quality and integrity of our food and its sources is more important than ever. Join us in our vision to make a difference. FarmPod is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico: http://www.FarmInaPod.com

Contact: Monique Gomez
FarmPod
Phone: 505-395-2126
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE FarmPod