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Shannon O’Malley discovered hydroponics when she relocated from Pennsylvania to Florida, where traditional gardening methods failed her. Frustrated by the harsh climate, she transformed her garage into a hydroponic garden that yielded an abundance of produce, so much that she began sharing with her community. This simple start would grow into Brick Street Farms, a hydroponic farm that generated $2.5 million in revenue in 2024.
What began with 3 shipping containers has evolved into a 20-container operation, equivalent to a 70-acre traditional farm. Brick Street Farms specializes in general hydroponics, growing leafy greens and microgreens, supplying both local consumers and restaurants while maintaining wholesale partnerships with stores. Their controlled environment ensures chemical-free, pest-free produce that meets the highest quality standards.
Shannon’s journey from garage gardener to successful entrepreneur started with a modest investment of just a few thousand dollars in her garage setup. She and her husband then scaled to their first shipping container farm, where each container equals 3 acres of traditional farmland through vertical growing. When COVID-19 hit, Shannon pivoted from restaurants to department stores and online delivery, saving Brick Street Farms from going under.
In this episode, Shannon reveals how you can start your own hydroponic farm and master the art of sustainable growing. She shares hard-earned wisdom from her container farming journey, showing how growing your own food can transform both your livelihood and your community.
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Timestamps:
00:00 – Start
00:57 – A farmā¦ in containers?!
01:37 – Scale of operations
02:06 – Team behind the farm
02:53 – So, why shipping containers?
03:12 – Engineer with a farmerās heart
04:14 – Profitability
05:08 – A āspaā for plants
06:06 – Years in operation
06:15 – Building amidst uncertainty
06:58 – Revenue and sources
08:47 – Fan blitz
10:38 – Zero-budget marketing strategy
12:05 – Picking the best location
13:13 – Unique industry? Unusual funding!
15:00 – Anyone CAN start today
15:28 – Flood and drain setup
16:12 – Benefits of growing microgreens
16:42 – Switching models aināt easy
17:17 – A fancy (and profitable) crop
18:15 – A whopping monthly bill
19:44 – Harvest and production
20:22 – Hydroponics IS the leader
21:04 – Landing big players
22:07 – Investment that pays off
23:23 – Order and shipping process
24:26 – Art of picking great talent
25:37 – Meeting the ābrainā
27:28 – The entrepreneurship journey
29:14 – An endless grind with big rewards
30:32 – The secretās in the numbers
31:37 – Introducing products and SKUs
32:39 – Hobbies for success
33:15 – Operating in a garage
33:49 – Tackling competition
34:43 – Power of listening
36:23 – Tracking KPIs for success
38:15 – Humble beginnings, bold future
39:32 – Outro
Tags:
#hydroponics #hydroponic #hydroponicfarm
41 Comments
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Also the containers should be insulated (e.g. with styrofoam ) on the outside so the heatup through the sun and climatization cost is reduced!
3 Millionen Umsatz sagt Ć¼berhaupt nichts. Der Gewinn ist aussagekrƤftig. So eine Sendung fĆ¼r ungebildeteā¦
What is ānaked farmerā?
š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£I reported seeing this back in 2000 in the Springfield Underground.
Energy is the development
Damn Zelensky is a busy guy, he has time to manage a war in Ukraine and do this.. Bravo sir š
Who is buying a salad mix for $24.99 when I can buy it for $4 over here in Washington. That's a 600Ć more than a grocery store. At $25, does that include free shipping, If you're paying 600Ć the price, you would get at least shipping free. Timestamp is 5:25
Yeah, just no. Buy a freaking big warehouse/building instead. Way cheaper. I can just imagine what a nightmare and cost having to replicate everything for each container would be, or how bad it is for workflow or potentially automation to have everything in separate box. Or what about if you need specific climate? having to insulate and produce that for each container would also be insane.
And containers are literally just iron boxes, if that's all you need, build a frame of building, and slap corrugated iron or something for roof and walls and you have way bigger and better space to work with, and probably cheaper too.
Trump says I can't subscribe
Would love to see a detailed video on setting up a garage system.
I would buy the composted waste (coconut fiber, roots, damaged or surplus produce). Dehydrate it for packaging.
Beautiful Shawl. Looking forward to the new collection to come
most people wont go all out, suggest trying to grow a few strawberry plants, then move up from there plant like 10 green pepper plants on your windowsill (inside)
Better idea. Grow your own food. Massive savings.
Have you considered having solar panels on a big scale onto the tops of every container. It could pay for your hydro and possibly even make extra money from the hydro
bro looks like zalinskey
Good video. I enjoyed it. The entrepreneur stuff at the end was great. Probably the first video from your channel I have watched. BUT WOW… You don't say or link any of their social media tags or website… nothing.
I made it 57 seconds before I got annoyed with the host. I'll just google "shipping container farms" or something. Not gonna downvote or anything, but man, that was grating. If you're already reaching the audience you want to reach, then keep doing what you're doing. But, if you want to expand your viewership, you might consider taking about 15% off there bro.
What is the net profit?
Florida- sunshine- growing inside without using solar to generate energy.
Should work much better up north.
I could see nasa and military be interested in data
Thank you for the inspiration i started a buissnes like that growing some greens in containers it made me a lot of money i will miss it thru out the next 3 to 5 yearsš
I couldnāt stand her voice so closed the video ššš
Yeah no. This is just a strait out lie. I'd be SHOCKED if you were profitable at all without subsidies or some strange money for who knows what that isn't farming and selling produce. No, this just won't be profitable ever.
also no sun and i grew thing under no sun , and yeah its not even close to sun because LED diode lacks wavelengths of light , meaning lacks information , meaning your produce is dumber then outside one , meaning when you eat it you get dumber as well since you don't get same vitamins and stuff per 1g of whatever .
Did you know that finding out what shipping containers were used for in their entire lifespan is practically impossible? Are you using new containers or recicling ones that could have been used to transport god knows what?
Backyard gardening. Basically.
Curious how they control insects. Would think that once they get in they could be a problem.
How did they fund that capex with the cash flows of a small commodity business?
How much electrical power does it consume.
180 revenue and 240 in overhead
Did this. Itās ..okay. Absolute nightmare to keep clean. Donāt recommend
Solar panels on roof ?
This looks awesome !!!
I'm gonna learn a lot here !!
Yet people are saying that vertical farming has failed. Free market for the win.
Downvoted
"Didnt have money for a warehouses so used shipping containers".
A warehouse is a few hundred a month. Substantially less tha. A shipping container. Clickbait garbage
Not buying it. Thatās way too many people required for that size output.
I loved this content! I'm interested in this sort of things doing my own hydroponic tower at home. I wish she'd have gone a bit more in-depth on the profit margin in the begginning and how she has been able to improve that.
How long before the government makes it illegal.
Smart tanks?
looks like a plant– but break it down and it will be missing 90% of the nutrients if grown in rich soil- it aint food. it just looks like it.
must get back to beef and sheep and other animals. manure, the animal, the grass and horse with a cowboy or a dog and shepard.
grass gets solar enery- the animals covert it— plus these animals dont actually live off the plants but that bacteria that grows on teh cud.
humans dont process veggies well- ever see corn looking back at ypu?. our stomach acid is stronger than a dogs. and we dont chew the cud.
mono cropping has to go – she is right about the millions of gallons of toxins used to farm mono crops= but she dont have the nutrients and its still costing ahow much money and burbiung fuels to provide lights and temperature control.?
raise grass- feed an animal, treat them with respect— we all have that final last day… the animals actually get it over quick where humans have to do it slow and painful in hospice with some other human wiping out butts etc
What does "smart tank" mean exactly?