Chicagoans sure take their urban agriculture seriously. While the city focuses on converting vacant land to farms in some of the city's struggling neighborhoods, entrepreneurs are doing the same indoors.
Utilizing a soil-free, aquaponic process, FarmedHere has just opened the largest indoor vertical farm in the United States in "a formerly abandoned suburban Chicago warehouse."
"The facility hopes to produce an anticipated 1 million pounds of chemical-, herbicide- and pesticide-free leafy greens -- including basil, arugula, mints and other greens -- to the Chicago area once it hits full production," says an article in the Huffington Post. "In addition, the facility says by 2014 it will be providing about 200 jobs to the community, many of them via a partnership with Windy City Harvest, a Chicago Botanic Garden-led urban agriculture training program targeted to underserved local youths."
"The Bedford Park facility is FarmedHere's third farm, joining a 10,000-square-foot facility in downstate Flanagan and a 4,000-square-foot one in Englewood. Whole Foods, which sells the company's greens in its Chicago stores, helped finance the new facility with a $100,000 loan, Crain's previously reported."
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