Cold winters aren’t known for cultivating fresh vegetables–but that may be changing thanks to a groundbreaking greenhouse that recently opened atop a soap factory on the Windy City’s South Side. At 75,000 sq. ft., the sprawling garden is likely the largest rooftop farm in the world, says Viraj Puri, CEO of urban agriculture group Gotham Greens, which runs the project. The hydroponic growing system aims to sprout 10 million leafy greens and herbs annually, which will feed hundreds of local grocery stores and restaurants, offering Chicagoans a taste of the daily harvest year-round. “It’s an adaptive reuse of urban space,” Puri says.
–Julie Shapiro
This appears in the January 18, 2016 issue of TIME.
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