Photo © Jason Meyer/Feinknopf |
The newest addition to a group of local, worker-owned cooperatives, this four-acre greenhouse on a 10-acre site in the Central neighborhood will be complete by mid-November; the first crop of leafy greens and herbs will be harvested in January. The greenhouse will supply 3 million heads of lettuce and 300,000 pounds of herbs per year, to be sold to the area's largest employers (Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, and the Cleveland Clinic) and retail groceries. Initially, the greenhouse will employ 20 to 25 people from the surrounding neighborhoods, where the median income is less than $18,500. A percentage of the profits will be distributed back to the employees. |