In addition to the local independent research being conducted by students, Half Hollow Hills has also been a part of the Growing Beyond Earth program for over half a decade.

This is a joint venture between Fairchild Botanical Gardens and NASA in which we study and monitor the success of various edible cultivars to be grown on the International Space Station. Students make weekly observations related to general plant health and crop yield for plants being grown in an experimental growing medium that minimizes the water needs as these plants mature in the system.

It wouldn’t be the AgTech lab without finding a way to automate the care of these plants as well. We have customized the GBE growing units to harvest environmental data as well as adjust watering and ventilation regimens based on user defined set points. What started as a single, manually cared for unit is now a fleet of six, fully autonomous research vessels.