Five years ago, FarmedHere launched its first vertical farm in a 90,000-foot abandoned warehouse near Chicago. Now, with 200 retail customers, and a model they say could work anywhere, they're planning to expand across the United States, beginning with a network of 18 indoor farms selling local food in major cities.
"We want to be the national local brand," says Matt Matros, who became CEO of the company in July, and previously ran a Protein Bar, a national chain of healthy fast food restaurants. "We can touch 75% of the country with 18 farms."
In its current Chicago farm, the company grows organic greens and herbs under long glowing rows of LED lights, and sells the produce to stores within 200 miles (Whole Foods is a customer). As they expand, they're choosing cities where they can reach the most people within the same radius.
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Photo by Tori Soper for Produce Grower magazine.
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