A year and two days after the City
of Chicago amended zoning codes to allow local urban agriculture, the city of
Chicago has moved to the forefront of urban center food production by licensing
Chicago’s first indoor (vertical) farm company, SkyyGreens Aquaponics.Â
Two weeks ago, SkyyGreens Aquaponics
became the first and, at present, only licensed indoor farm in Chicago.Â
highlighting local farms job creation potential within Chicago city limits. Soon thereafter, the city of Chicago’s
city council backed the mayor by voting to reduce zoning laws clearing the path
for urban farming within Chicago.Â
SkyyGreens Aquaponics, founded by
former classmates from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, was
formed out of frustration in trying to source local organic produce year
round. Like many urban consumers,
Chicagoans were looking for local, organic produce options. However, due the Chicago climate, traditional outdoor
farms–even if ‘hyperlocal’ and within city limits–could not satisfy year
around demand. SkyyGreens had a
solution: take the farm indoors.Â
In the year following the mayor’s
announcement and city council vote, SkyyGreens researched and tested best
practices for growing produce indoors.Â
The team also experimented with lighting technology and various aquaponic/hydroponic
methods to determine the optimal indoor environment to grow produce. After countless tasting sessions with chefs
that featured local produce, the outcome was always the same, “this tastes
great, but when will more be available”?Â
So the SkyyGreens team next tackled
the business problem. Can an indoor farm
startup become a scalable, profitable enterprise? SkyyGreens put their business assumptions to
the test this past summer in the startup capital of the world, Silicon Valley,
CA. SkyyGreens presented their business
model to a group of venture capitalists and ‘super’ angel investors as part of
a business plan competition where SkyyGreens tied for first place. This gave
the SkyyGreens team additional confidence that their indoor farm was ready for
the market!  Â
Headquartered in Chicago, SkyyGreens is committed to providing
local, organic produce to major cities 365 days a year. For more information,
contact SkyyGreens at 1-800-723-3093 or www.skyygreens.com. Follow SkyyGreens
on Facebook.com/skyygreens or Twitter @skyygreens.
This press release is presented without editing for your information. GRIT does not recommend, approve or endorse the products and/or services offered. You should use your own judgment and evaluate products and services carefully before deciding to purchase.
