A New Vision for Local Farming.
The Mission of Noble Hill Farms is to transform wasted energy, unused land and the unrealized potential of people into a new vision for local food.
Anchored by a profitable hydroponic greenhouse, the proceeds from our operation will support new market development for local farmers, and train our next generation of farmers.
Hydroponic Greenhouse Funds Mission and Investor Return
Many local food initiatives fail because they lack long term financial support.
The Greenhouse is the financial engine of this project, a portion of profits support the education mission of Noble Hill, and eliminates dependence on annual grants.
The Greenhouse also establishes a credible local anchor brand with distributors and consumers, which will be leveraged to sell local farmer’s products through a food hub.
Hydroponic Greenhouse Transforms Wasted Resources into Competitive Business Advantage
We will transform wasted resources into a sustainable competitive business advantage… underutilized land, free heat, and low cost off-peak wind power…and dramatically lower transportation costs with next day fresh delivery. Smart use of resources increases return to investors, while generating capital to support the mission of Noble Hill.
Noble Hill is a Scalable Vision that Can be Repeated Across the Country
Anchored in the Missouri Ozarks, we believe this is a scalable model that could catalyze success of other foodsheds across the nation.
Noble Hill is a new approach to local food systems, one that can be repeated in communities across the country, wherever there is waste heat from industrial plants or data centers; hard working farmers, and willing communities
The resources are all around us, we just need to put them together….and Noble Hill can be a successful model for other communities.
Why Noble Hill?
We are pioneering the use of wasted thermal energy from data centers to heat greenhouses. But more importantly, we believe that this can be repeatable model that supports and strengthens our local food infrastructure.
We Talked to Our Community
We know we had our work cut out for us…turning waste heat into healthy food, all while supporting the existing farmer community. We knew we needed to truly understand the problems our local farmers faced, before we could design a solution.
So, we got to work.
We spent two years meeting with community leaders, farmers, educators. We refined business models, we combed through market reports and built spreadsheets, we consulted leading hydroponic experts, and we met with large commercial food buyers in our region. We wanted to truly understand the obstacles that stood in the way of regional food independence and job creation.
Here is what we learned.
It’s Almost Impossible to Start Farming Today
If you didn’t inherit a farm it is almost impossible to start farming in America today.
To start a farm you need several things. Access to land, equipment and capital.
But new farmers cannot get a bank loan without a farming track record or substantial collateral.
You also need to know how to grow crops, but equally important, you need to know how to run a successful business. Perhaps most important…You also need a reliable market to sell your products.
If you don’t have all of these things, or weren’t fortunate enough to inherit a farm, it’s almost impossible to launch a career in farming.
2. Farmers Are Struggling to Survive
90% of farmers in Missouri derive more than half of their income from off farm jobs. This means that for the vast majority of professional farmers it is not possible to pay bills or farm mortgages without a second job. The average age of farmers in America is sixty years old…and there is no one to replace them.
3. Large Food Buyers Want to Buy More Local Food from Farmers
We spoke to the largest commercial food buyers in our region. They say that is was a strategic advantage to source more of their food locally, but it needs to within their existing systems.
A farmer can’t show up to a large commercial food buyer with a pickup of beets and expect to make the sale.
They want to buy local products from farmers, but it has to be inspected, sorted and at scale and consistency that they need to sell to their customers.
Noble Hill Address these problems with a Systems Based Business Approach
Noble Hill is a systems based approach to restoring the local food system.
A Healthy food system is like a three legged barstool ….each leg provides stability for the long term success of the food system.
The first leg of our stool is A hydroponic greenhouse, that uses wasted thermal energy from a data center to grow commercial produce. A portion of the Profits from the greenhouse support the other two legs. An Ag Accelerator, which trains new farmers …and a food hub that provides a larger year round market for local farmers.
Contact
We are happy to meet with you over zoom or in person to present more about our plan at Noble Hill. Please reach out to schedule a time.
Email
jchiles@farmteamozarks.com
mchiles@farmteamozarks.com