US (MA): Wellspring Collaborative plans worker-owned greenhouse

It might be littered with bottle caps and old tires now, but within a year the fallow land at Bay and Tapley streets in Springfield could be home to an environmentally conscious greenhouse initiative.

Springfield-based economic development project Wellspring Collaborative plans to build a hydroponic greenhouse that would provide produce for area hospitals, colleges and school districts, a move that coincides with a push within those institutions to buy local.

"There's lots of interest," said Emily Kawano, economist and Wellspring co-director. "One of the issues of the moment is local food."

Wellspring is hoping to purchase a six-acre, tax-foreclosed industrial site at Bay and Tapley streets for the greenhouse, according to organization co-director Frederic Rose. The land is the former location of Cohen Bros. Metals Recycling, and has the benefit of being positioned along a railroad track and within a mile of Interstate 291.

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