Features

Seeds of Greatness

earth
The legacy begins with me title
Auburn alums test farming strategies in space
Neal Reid
Dale and Angela Speetjens have a mission: innovate food procedures on Earth so farms produce more, farmers pay less and no one goes hungry in Alabama communities. To get answers, they went to space.
D

ale ’13, ’15 holds degrees in community planning, environmental design and landscape architecture. Angela ’14 holds a degree in horticulture with an expertise in hydroponics. Together, the husband-wife team combined knowledge to found Shipshape Urban Farms, an innovator in vertical farming and sustainable agriculture.

Dale wearing Techstars_Alabama tshirt inside an industrial style conference room.
Angela wearing Techstars_Alabama tshirt inside an industrial style conference room.
Dale Speetjens said advanced community planning – on Earth and beyond – will include bringing food production indoors.

“Sustainability is really what we’re trying to get at across the board because, if we can’t grow it sustainably here on Earth, how in the world are we going to feed people when we start getting to space, the lower orbit and out to the gateway station at the moon and beyond?” he said. “It’s one of those things where, if we don’t figure it out and figure out how to do it well now, we’re just going to have more problems with food security and accessibility.”

In March, Shipshape teamed with ABOVE Space, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and startup accelerator Gener8tor to send a payload of lettuce and tomato seeds to the International Space Station (ISS) in an attempt to better understand plant biology and “reshape the future of agriculture.”

The mission, titled the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSIE-19), sent the seeds to the ISS to expose them to microgravity and radiation so their growth patterns, genetic expressions and resilience can be measured and tested in hopes of gleaning insight into potentially innovative procedures that can be replicated on earth.

NASA view of cargo docking.
Rocket launching at Space Station.
“Sustainability is really what we’re trying to get at across the board because, if we can’t grow it sustainably here on Earth, how in the world are we going to feed people when we start getting to space, the lower orbit and out to the gateway station at the moon and beyond?”
When the seeds return, the Speetjenses will use the data to advance vertical farming and regenerative agriculture. By establishing vertical farms, more food can be grown in a smaller space and using less power, which Speetjens said will empower local communities to grow more food at lower cost.

“By bringing the food closer to where the people live – a big piece of what we see as our mission – our ability as a company to bring it closer to the end user, cut down on the food miles, extra maladies and things the other vertical farms and other groups talk about is extremely important,” Speetjens said. “And do it in a way that tries to be as sustainable and environmentally friendly in reusing water and energy as possible – that’s how we get to the part where we start to really solve the problems we have, both in the U.S. and internationally as well.”

The Speetjens hope to use innovative vertical farming designs to enhance the efficiency of food production in Alabama. They’re currently working with partner companies and organizations to identify and launch a network of regional vertical farming locations.

Because vertical farming takes up less space, transportation and energy, the regional network has the potential to significantly reduce food insecurity in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

detailed shot of lettuce in green house pots.
“Growth rate is the biggest factor,” said Speetjens. “Accelerating the amount of food we can grow is the real key for what we’re trying to do with this and why we’re going on these missions. So, that would mean clean water, clean food and clean energy being able to be put out from these systems that can be grown all year long, in any climate and any environment.”

Space is just the start for Speetjens. On Earth, Shipshape is working to raise $3 million to fund these expansions, as well as add staff and dedicate efforts to submit grant proposals for funding.

To that end, the company has partnered with the Sylacauga-based East Alabama Rural Innovation and Training Hub (EARTH) on a sustainable agriculture project to revolutionize the region’s agricultural landscape by integrating advanced farming techniques, renewable energy and regenerative agriculture practices.

Dale and Angela on a stage presenting at TechStars.
“The last two years have been pretty big for us, and the next two years will be even bigger,” Speetjens said. “There’s a lot of good stuff coming down the pipeline that I think can make a big impact around our state and region. Hopefully, in two or three years, we’ll be saying around the world, too.”
Read Shipshape’s full story.
Back to Issue
Contents