Chicago Company Corners The Secret To Growing Vegetables Without Dirt

FarmedHere's CEO Jolanta Hardej runs the nation's largest indoor vertical farm, which had its grand opening in Chicago this week.

It's an unlikely move for Hardej, whose only experience working in agriculture was tending to her grandmother's farm in Europe as a child.

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The interior designer-turned-mortgage broker spent 15 years as a mortgage broker until the financial collapse of 2008: "My world crashed," she says.

Hardej started reading books and attending seminars on vertical farming, a kind of urban farming that saves space by growing crops in flat beds stacked on top of each other, typically inside tall buildings.

A $100,000 loan from Whole Foods helped Hardej get her own vertical farm off the ground. The plants in her farm grow without soil, instead using mineral-rich water that comes from tanks filled with tilapia fish.

FarmedHere currently grows various types of basil and arugula, but has plans to experiment with other vegetables in the future.