Violet Gro, a Grand Junction-based tech startup, has partnered with Colorado Mesa University and the Western Colorado Community College on a new greenhouse that will push agricultural practices to new, innovative level and help tackle future food demand. Here’s more via KKCO Newschannel 11:

“Western Colorado is focused on becoming a national leader in unique agricultural practices that will push the industry forward. Thanks to this partnership between Violet Gro, the WCCC, and Grand Junction Economic Partnership, a unique greenhouse will soon be built at the WCCC to explore the indoor growing of food and crops.

‘We were thrilled to find out that they are going to be opening up a new agricultural program at WCCC,’ said Grand Junction Economic Partnership Deputy Director Steve Jozefczyk. ‘And at WCCC they’re going to be building a new facility to house their new Violet Gro UV lighting technology. And they’ll be using this new technology to do all sorts of different experiments to see how products grow indoors.’

‘We can all do amazing things alone,’ said Vice President of Community College Affairs Brigitte Sundermann. ‘But when we have partnerships with the school district and an industry like this, we are able to do things for the community, whether it’s through our ag program or viticulture or culinary, we’re able to do stuff through community ed. It opens another opportunity for the school district and their students to come and do this amazing piece with ag.’