How does vertical farming, growing foods like spinach and lettuce, in tall technology-supported structures instead of in the ground, produce a bounty of fresh local food all year long? To find out, Grateful‘s Lauren Kelly Piergallini visits the green food towers at True Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, where desert soil challenges traditional farming methods and “temperatures reach 120 degrees during the day and 90 degrees at night during peak months.”

The facility’s plants are grown in coco coir instead of soil and use 90{95a2b84223771f6dc99687581f8d75dfbd5fdd45bc711e1847180ef96d7d2d0f} less water. From True Garden:

Coco Coir is made from the coconut husk. What was once considered a waste and a byproduct of the coconut industry is now a major staple of growers all around the world.

Coco coir is sought after by most growers for its excellent water holding capacity as well as an amazing ability to transfer nutrients to the plant. In addition, coco coir is organic.

Watch this next: Using seawater and sunlight to grow sustainable food in the desert.

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