Inside Zion United Methodist Church in North Las Vegas is a high-tech lab ready to empower the community with education on how to grow your food sustainably in the desert.
"We can grow with 95% less water indoors," explains Amber Bosket, chief operating officer of the environmental consulting and research company Energy Tree, which partnered with Zion United and the City of North Las Vegas to develop the lab, called the Urban Center for Advanced Agricultural Technologies (UCAAT). Along with the 1.5-acre Zion Urban Farm, the lab will help address hunger in the surrounding neighborhood and create training opportunities.
In partnership with the church, Energy Tree has been teaching community classes on hydroponics and advanced agriculture methods since early 2022. Now, with grant funding, the Urban Center for Advanced Agricultural Technologies is ready to scale up the classes and number of students it can teach.
The $1.5 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant was appropriated through the City of North Las Vegas, allowing Zion and Energy Tree to expand its lab space to accommodate eight students at a time and pay for other facility and equipment upgrades including microscopes and iPads."
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