Green Era to bring urban ag opportunities to Chicago area

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Green Era to bring urban ag opportunities to Chicago area

A new urban farming campus coming to Chicago is designed to reduce food waste, generate clean energy, and educate the public about urban agriculture.

Founder Jason Feldman tells Brownfield the Green Era Renewable Energy and Urban Farming Campus will be built on a 9-acre brownfield on the south side of Chicago.

“We will have an anaerobic digester that will process organic waste and recycle it into renewable natural gas that will be injected into the local cash grid as well as compost that we will be using for both an on-site urban farm and other urban farms that we operate in the area.”

He says the project will bring added value to the community by providing nutrient rich compost for local food production, creating more than 200 jobs and offering educational tours for the public and local schools.

“Part of the idea around the campus is to really tangibly connect folks to what it means to build this new green economy and how recycling organic waste can benefit the community. The education starts on site where folks can physically see how the organics are recycled, how it is processed, how we take the compost and grow on site right there and then at the front how they can purchase the fresh healthy produce and also take home the compost.”

Feldman says while there are other locations across the country with anaerobic digesters, the unique circular model of Green Era brings all these aspects together along with the potential for growth and duplication of the site in other cities.  

He says they have started site cleanup and plan for the campus to be fully operational by Spring of 2022.

Interview with Jason Feldman

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