FarmedHere is Here!

FarmedHere is all about sustainable urban farming, check out how this innovative company is using vertical farming to transform local and organic produce!

If you haven't heard of Vertical Farming yet, you certainly will soon. This innovative trend in farming uses high-tech growing technology, generally in urban area buildings, to grow produce in stacks for local consumption.  One company that's utilizing this technique with the mission to transform the way local and organic produce is grown and distributed is FarmedHere:

Mark Thomann, Chairman at FarmedHere LLC
FarmedHere is an indoor vertical farm located just outside of Chicago in a small industrial community called Bedford Park. The farm is housed in a 90,000 sq foot facility It’s an abandoned warehouse, that at one point was a corrugated box manufacturing facility and in 2013 we converted that warehouse into what is now FarmedHere. We grow basil, arugula, kale, and a plethora of other leafy green crops. We grow a tremendous amount of microgreens,  which gives us the ability to grow upwards of 125 different varieties of things, everything ranging from peapod shoots to corn shoots to cilantro etc.  We distribute to several grocery stores as well as restaurants in the Chicago, Midwest area. 

PHIL: While the idea of indoor farming isn't new, advances in lighting technology and farming methods means places like FarmedHere can grow produce even more efficiently:

MARK:  We are most definitely the largest indoor vertical farm in the country, when you look at the fact that we’re organically certified.

We’re not trying to replace traditional farming, there’s a tremendous amount of external stress and pressure with climate change, droughts in California that are making what we’re doing indoors more valuable, because we do grow 365 days of the year.  Because we’re a local, because we harvest and send our produce to the store within a 24 hour period it’s a very, very local concept. FarmedHere are produce is so fresh and the fact that it’s only shipped within a 50 mile radius, it’s ultra fresh and ultra good for you.