Hydroponic farm thrives in shipping containers in Ketchikan

Every Monday morning, Jenn Tucker harvests 3,600 living plants from one of the shipping containers that serves as a hydroponic farm and fills piles of crates for delivery across Ketchikan.

Tucker is the farm manager for Outpost Agriculture, a nonprofit that set up its first hydroponic farm in Ketchikan last year and is eyeing development of similar, controlled environment agriculture operations across Alaska.

The Outpost farm building on North Tongass Highway in Ketchikan is an assemblage of eight white shipping containers connected by a breezeway. Three of the containers are outfitted with pr...