Farm From A Box Develops Sustainable, Remote Monitoring Solution Using Sierra Wireless® AirLink® Routers

The concept of Farm From a Box originated from the idea of using modified shipping containers that were built around a soccer field to provide basic services and resources in education, health and sport for rural youth in Kenya, Africa. While education, health and sport are very important, it soon became evident to Founding Partners Scott Thompson and Brandi DeCarli that access to healthy and nutritional food, a foundational community need, was sorely lacking and needed to be prioritized. 

As a result, Thompson and DeCarli began exploring how they might be able to take the same transportable, “plug and play” model of a modified container, and use it as a vehicle to provide a sustainable means of local food production to serve the  community. It was then that Farm From a Box was born.

Since its inception, Thompson and DeCarli started to explore different technologies and systems to support a self-sufficient food production unit—from atmospheric water generators to NASA-tested chicken manure processors—any solution or alternative that might provide the most efficient and environmentally beneficial closed-loop food production system. It was concluded that, in order to deploy a portfolio of systems and devices, they needed a robust solution to connect, monitor and gather data from these technologies. 

“We sought the advice of some of the best minds in agriculture, biodiversity, irrigation, sustainable energy, and international development. We spoke with farmers, engineers, governments, and some of the largest aid providers in the world, all in an effort to understand what was needed and what could be done better,” says Brandi DeCarli, Founding Partner, Farm From a Box.