This isn't sustainability as a badge. It's just how the box works.
Water used many times, nothing to spray, our own wind for power, and fruit grown about an hour from Karachi. Here is how each one works, and who it pays.
Every drop, used many times.
Our figure is 95% less water than conventional farming. The difference is a closed loop: the roots are misted, and the water they do not take comes back to be used again.
How the loop works
Closed-loop recirculation, in three steps.
- Misted on a timerA fine mist of water and nutrients reaches the roots, which hang in the air below the tray.
- Taken up by the rootsThe roots take what they need. There is no soil for water to soak into.
- Collected and used againWhat the roots do not take is collected and goes round again, with water and nutrients tracked in real time.
Nothing to spray for.
Zero pesticides. Two things make that possible: a sealed climate, and plants that start clean.
A sealed climate
The plants grow in a sealed room, where light and climate are set, not left to the weather. The roots hang in air, so there is no soil for pests to live in. A sealed climate means there is nothing left to spray for.
Clean plants from the start
Our plants are not raised from runners bought in a sack. Each one is grown by tissue culture from a few cells of clean, disease-free mother stock. Clean stock is a large part of how the room stays pesticide-free.
Powered by our own wind plant.
100% renewable wind energy. Growing indoors takes power: the LEDs give the plants their day, and the climate inside is held steady. That power comes from the wind.
These are GreenBox's own figures: 95% less water than conventional farming, through closed-loop recirculation; zero pesticides; 100% renewable wind energy, from our own wind plant.
Hours, not days.
We hand-pick at peak ripeness and deliver in hours, not days.
In Pakistan, high-quality strawberries are often limited by long transport routes and post-harvest losses. Our farm is in Dhabeji, Sindh, about an hour east of Karachi, so the fruit spends less time on the road and less of it is lost after picking.
Sustainable for the women who grow it, too.
GreenBox Farms is led, operated and harvested by women, with a women-led team on the ground.
Wages in her own name
Every wage we pay lands in a bank account in her name; for many, the first they have held. That is documented, traceable income that compounds beyond the job: access to credit, savings and a financial identity of her own.
An apprenticeship, planned
We are building towards a parallel apprenticeship cohort of women from the surrounding rural communities, training them as controlled-environment farming operators for our next phase.
See how the box works for yourself.
Visits to the farm are by appointment. Ask for a farm tour.