While the United States maintains its status as a global agricultural powerhouse, with massive conglomerates moving immense quantities of produce daily, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant vulnerabilities. Supply chain disruptions led to widespread waste, quality declines, and food shortages. These systemic issues are further aggravated by political shifts, persistent droughts, and extreme weather patterns. Despite the efficiency of bulk farming for the general population, the necessity for locally sourced produce is undeniable. Consumers are increasingly seeking direct connections with farmers to explore and learn about genuine food. In response, a boutique indoor farming model is emerging to restore these vital community bonds.
© Local Leaf Farm
A healthier Chipotle
Situated in a repurposed retail space in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, Local Leaf Farm is an indoor hydroponic operation designed to reinvent the consumer-food relationship. The farm was established on the foundation of community integration, aiming to provide ultra-fresh, nutritious vegetables, microgreens, and flowers. Its mission centers on delivering these products through a supportive, transparent, and welcoming environment.
Daniel Cohen, a mechanical engineer, had a vision to create a community-driven urban farm, where people could source their produce locally, providing accessible a variety of incredible nutritious options. With his background of 20 years designing commercial and industrial building systems, Daniel believed his idea could really change how people connect with their food.
"The pendulum has swung so far that people don't know what real food looks like or where it comes from," says Cohen. "I wanted to build a very transparent grow facility in the middle of town, to help swing that pendulum back."
Local Leaf Farm, located at 1849 Greenbay Road in suburban Highland Park, occupies the footprint of the former Chipotle franchise, every square foot of it deliberately accounted for. Vertical towers meticulously grow edible flowers and herbs including cilantro and basil, which need a particular height for the best yield. Deep water culture (DWC) systems develop the lettuce, where Daniel says demand and performance have both surpassed expectations.
© Local Leaf Farm
Microgreens fill the remaining racks, with 30 varieties currently in production. These include but are not limited to wasabi, cantaloupe, carrot, broccoli, sunflower, mustard, and best selling Vitality Blend and MicroGiant Blend (for the Highland Park High School mascot, also Daniel's alma mater) combining 10 tasty varieties in each. Thirteen lettuce types round out the daily harvest, and the multitude of edible flowers have been fan favorites for private chefs, restaurants and bakers alike, as well as the day-to-day customers.
"The DWC has been working surprisingly well for green lettuce," Daniel says. "That was the biggest reason we went for it. Lettuce was going crazy in that system."
Walk in and taste
With the tagline, "Nutritious. Delicious. Local," Local Leaf Farm aims to do just that daily and with integrity. On a typical day, a customer can walk in, be greeted as if you were in the comfort of your own home. Danny and his wife Stefanie, co-founder of Local Leaf Farm, strive to create an environment where guests are welcomed and even more curious upon opening the doors. Anyone can come in for a free tour, delicious samples harvested along the way, learning about the upcoming events, especially the quarterly MicroGreen Mingle, typically collaborating with adjacent local businesses.
© Local Leaf Farm
Customer-led is at the heart of this business, especially with the beautiful education realm of school field trips. As a former educator, Stefanie is thrilled to positively impact growth and development and critical thinking skills of our future leaders. After a recent school visit, many respective parents ventured back to Local Leaf Farm, to learn more about the operation and try the delicious varieties themselves.
© Local Leaf Farm
As a way to create community and ideally loyalty to the Local Leaf Farm family, the company initiated a subscription service, offering discounts weekly and free delivery, additionally supplying a handful of Chicago restaurants with basil, flowers, and microgreens. They also continued their outreach with private and at home chefs, catering companies, country clubs, nutritionist offices, health and fitness studios, and gardening clubs. Incredibly, Local Leaf Farm has also been accepted into the 7 applied to summer farmer's markets in the nearby area, almost all opening in June 2026.
How to keep every crop under control
Needless to say, running such a farm with so many different crops under one roof is not for the faint of heart. Daniel is grateful to those who have helped build the farm from the ground up, literally and figuratively, including a head of farm operations and many devoted part-time employees. With the intentions of creating the farm cost efficiently, Daniel also knew that that level of daily precision requires an infrastructure that performs without skipping a beat. That is where Agrowtek enters the picture.
Daniel selected Agrowtek's control system after evaluating the field and prioritizing robustness over novelty. For an operation where a single missed parameter affects that day's harvest and that day's customers, there's literally zero tolerance for unreliability.
© Local Leaf Farm
"Agrowtek is much more reliable than some of the other vertical farm types of systems," Daniel shares. "The precision, the accuracy, the quality of the part - everything has a purpose, and it's intuitive. I found setting this up as a lot of fun. These are all different tools, trying to implement them in the most efficient ways possible, and Agrowtek makes that possible."
Data storage and historical logging have also proved useful as the farm develops and refines its standard operating procedures. With a second grow room currently being fitted out, having clean records of what the first room has produced, and under what conditions, gives the expansion a foundation to build on.
The next phase is focused on completing the second room, tightening SOPs, and building out the sales network before any decisions about additional locations.
The open kitchen model, food grown in plain sight, by people invested in the neighborhood's wellbeing, is the thing Daniel wants to get right first.
"The dream would be to open different locations throughout the country, and replicate this model in other food deserts," he explains. "But first, there's a path we need to cross to fully understand which directions we want to go. It's really just about passion and paying attention."
© Local Leaf Farm
Local Leaf Farm is open to the public 5 days per week, operating Tuesday 11-4, Wednesday and Thursday 11-6, and Friday and Saturday 11-4. With a comprehensive online platform at www.localleaffarm.com, and a free digitally downloadable cookbook, this is an establishment not to miss.
For more information:
Local Leaf Farm
www.localleaffarm.com
Agrowtek
© Agrowtek
3365 Gateway Rd, Brookfield, WI 53045
Phone: (847) 380-3009
Fax: (224) 538-2320
[email protected]
agrowtek.com
