The South Bend Common Council unanimously approved several tax abatements Monday night for two indoor farming operations. The investments could make the city a major hub in the hydroponic produce industry. Greenleaf Holdco, which does business as Pure Green Farms, operates a four-acre hydroponic greenhouse on Calvert Street near the South Bend Ethanol Plant.
It grows about two million pounds of various lettuces indoors 365 days a year. And the company has plans for a $68 million dollar expansion, creating 75 new jobs and retaining 25 existing ones with an average wage of around $24 an hour. Right next door, JEM Farms is planning a $178 million dollar investment to build 100 acres of greenhouses, which would produce tomatoes and strawberries and employ about 110 people. On average, those employees would make just under $30 an hour.
On Monday night, the South Bend Common Council unanimously voted to approve about $17.2 million in tax abatements for the projects, which could make the city a major regional hub for indoor farming. “It’s creating a new industry,” sixth district council member Sheila Niezgodski said. “New jobs — $240 million of investment, it’s just amazing.”
Jeff Rea, the president and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the projects are “one of the largest single investments in the city in quite some time. It puts South Bend on the map,” Rea said. “It’s a great generator of new jobs and capital investment, and we think it would be a real catalyst to other activity here.”
Read the complete article at www.wvpe.org.
