Lufa has a pretty good concept. We used them for a while, in the middle of the pandemic, before we moved out of their coverage zone. Decent amount of dropoff points, we got a big reusable tub full of stuff every week. The pricing was comparable to buying at the grocery store, but the stuff was generally much fresher.
Are there any downsides? The company has been around for a while, and they’re still going, so why isn’t this type of farming done everywhere? It could significantly strengthen food security, and would make fresh food more easily available.
It requires building the structure under the greenhouse specifically to support the weight of the greenhouses themselves, plus all the plants, equipment, substrate, and water, plus workers.
Your average existing large-footprint building simply isn’t built to hold that weight - maybe a couple feet of snow - and would need to be heavily remodeled to accommodate it. It also adds a lot to the cost of building new structures, so it’s a sizable investment in either case.
Idk if you’d call that a downside, but that’s why this sort of thing isn’t everywhere.
