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Meet Clarkson

Daegan Gonyer

Super High-Tech Greenhouse

Potsdam has many charms. Warm winter weather for farming is not one of them—just like many places worldwide where cold temperatures prevent food production. Clarkson physics undergraduate and now graduate student Daegan Gonyer came up with the formula for a solution. Physics may seem far removed from farming, but disciplines (and solutions) always defy convention at Clarkson, so Daegan developed the Controlled Environment High-Rise Farm concept. It’s a super high-tech greenhouse with sustainable solar, aeroponic, water, and anaerobic compost systems. He teamed with fellow students and faculty, won grants, and helped form a new CEHRF development company. Today, produce grows in the middle of the Potsdam winter.