Product Spotlight: Building an accessible vertical farm

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What does it take to make a modular vertical farm wheelchair accessible?

Vertical farms can be narrow spaces with many hard to reach corners making it difficult for those with mobility needs to be an operator.

Even the premise of vertical farming - growing more using less space - doesn’t lend itself to thinking of it as a spacious or an accessible work environment.

Why does this matter? Local food is better when it’s accessible to all - from those who get to eat it to those who get to grow it.

Current vertical farming technology is often narrow, tall, and can be a challenge to navigate, but industry modifications can unlock employment opportunities for operators living with disabilities and help make vertical farming more accessible to all.

The first wheelchair accessible vertical farm in Canada

Growcer partnered with the Reena Foundation and the Rick Hansen Foundation to develop the first accessible modular vertical farm in Canada.

The farm allows you to locally grow 5,600+ pounds of fresh, nutritious produce all year round.

What makes an accessible vertical farm different?

Let’s think about what a regular modular farm looks like:

  • Stacked growing rafts piled high to the ceiling

  • Narrow working aisles between runways

  • No room to turnaround if you’re using a wheelchair

  • Manual doors

  • Light switches and sensors are all at eye level for someone standing

When creating an accessible farm, we had to think of ways to overcome these barriers so an operator using a wheelchair would be able to grow inside the vertical farm.

“We worked with a consultant recommended by the Rick Hansen Foundation to certify the project and they helped guide us on how someone using a wheelchair would need to operate the farm,” says Adam Fry, Growcer’s product manager leading the project. “It was interesting to see how small details make a difference when designing a more accessible farm.”

Accessibility upgrades

After a consultation process, several modifications were implemented:

  • Adding an automated sliding door to replace the plastic curtain to the grow room.

This update not only enhances accessibility but also plant health because it creates an impenetrable barrier to pests.

 

An automatic sliding door sits between the mechanical room and grow room.

 

In an Osiris farm, a plastic curtain acts as an additional barrier between the mechanical room and grow room.

 

  • Creating turnaround zones at the front and back of the farm.

Without turnaround zones, someone using a wheelchair would be forced to “reverse” themselves out of the farm and only ever do farm tasks facing one way. Plus, the restriction becomes a safety concern when it comes to exiting the farm. With turnaround zones, a person using a wheelchair or mobility device has enough space to turn around at the front and back of the farm.

 

In the Osiris Access farm, there are turnaround spaces at both ends of the farm.

 

The minimum turning space required to perform a complete 360-degree turn is 1,700mm diameter, and this was built into the back of the farm to create a turnaround zone.

 

  • Automating entry doors and ensuring the farm is ramp accessible.

The same concept applies for buildings with automated doors that open with a push of a button - except this time the automated door is on the farm.

 

One of the earlier brainstorming drawings when deciding how to add an automatic entry way.

 

  • Designing a fold out work table at the back of the farm to add more workspace without compromising the turnaround area.

In Growcer’s regular Osiris farm, the workbench sits on top of the seedling area in the front of the farm, limiting how much space is available to turn around and restricting the workbench to an inaccessible height.

By designing a foldout work table that stows away when not in use, it allows an operator to have space to turn around or use the table to work when needed.

Growcer also relocated the seedling area to the back of the farm and shortened one of the growing racks to increase the space upfront. Moving the seedling area allowed the farm to have a turnaround zone at the front of the farm, and with the foldout work table on the other end, also maintain a turnaround zone at the back of the farm too.

 

The foldout work table at the back of the Osiris Access farm.