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Solar Greenhouses
An Opportunity to Fight for a Double Bottom Line in
Regional Poverty: Food & Energy
Several years ago, RREAL had the opportunity to help Concordia University power & heat a high tunnel with solar energy. The project was aimed at creating an eco-friendly solution to an effort to grow more food year-round in a cold climate.
Now, RREAL is developing a partnership with Minnesota Venture Farms aimed at a similar goal: grow more food in Minnesota year-round, power the systems with clean, solar energy, & make sure that food helps to feed people in both rural communities but also communities in Minneapolis.
Minnesota Venture Farms is a Black-led initiative. Working together, our goal is to build four 4,000 square foot solar greenhouses in four rural communities across Minnesota, including the RREAL office in Backus, White Earth Nation, & others.
This is a new initiative that promises to address two elements of poverty in our region: food & energy, while also furthering wider goals of sustainability in both energy & food production for our region.
Together with Minnesota Venture Farms and other RREAL partners, we are working to prepare our communities for a sustainable future & make sure these benefits are accessible to all communities.
Pictured here is one existing greenhouse that RREAL and Minnesota Venture Farms hope to add solar power to in 2022. Four additional rural sites around the state will be selected to construct new greenhouses with solar power in the years ahead.
The goal is to create more sustainable, solar powered food production for both urban and rural communities.
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