BrightFarms recently broke ground on the BrightFarms Chicagoland Greenhouse in Rochelle, IL. This project is a partnership with Roundy's Supermarkets Inc. Slated for completion in early 2016, it will provide produce for Roundy’s stores. It is being built in partnership with Clean Feet Investors.

Focused on local, low-impact farming, the BrightFarms Chicagoland Greenhouse will be one of the most productive farms in the Chicagoland market, one of the most sustainable sources of year-round baby greens and tomatoes in all of Illinois, and among the most productive salad greens farms, per square foot, in the world. It will create permanent green collar jobs, significantly reduce food miles and improve the environmental impact of the food supply chain.

"Consumer demand for local is growing exponentially — and for good reason: long distance produce hurts the environment and compromises freshness, quality and taste," Paul Lightfoot, BrightFarms chief executive officer, said in a press release. "This greenhouse farm will allow Roundy’s to provide its customers with year-round produce that is not only garden-fresh, but that conserves land and water, eliminates agricultural runoff and reduces greenhouse gas emission."

A cutting-edge, scalable solution to Americans' increasing demand for local and sustainable food, The BrightFarms Chicagoland greenhouse will be 160,000 square feet and grow over 1 milliion pounds of fresh and flavorful salad greens, herbs and tomatoes per year. The greenhouse will use 80 percent less water, 90 percent less land and 95 percent less shipping fuel than conventional produce companies. On average, it will use 64 percent less energy to grow its products than the items it replaces on supermarket shelves. All produce will be pesticide-free.

"We're thrilled that our stores will be able to deliver consumers the freshest, most local greens, herbs and tomatoes possible," Bob Mariano, CEO and chairman of Roundy's, said in the release. "BrightFarms is a model for the future of food and we look forward to exemplifying, together with them, what that future should look like."

"We're honored BrightFarms chose to put down roots in Rochelle, and are excited for the completion of the greenhouses early next year," said Rochelle Mayor Chet Olson. " By 2016, the project will have created over 23 local green collar jobs and over 100 local construction jobs, which means more dollars will be kept in the Rochelle community."