Green Bay Nonprofit Plans Indoor Farm In Downtown Armory Building

A Green Bay nonprofit plans to raise nearly $2.5 million to build an indoor farm and fish hatchery. NeighborWorks Green Bay owns a 20,000 square-foot dilapidated former armory downtown to house the project and says it can profit by growing greens and lake perch.

“It’s going to take a little while to do that but we’re going to do it as aggressively as we can. We think this is going to be a great asset to our community,” said NeighborWorks director Noel Halvorsen. “We think that we’re going to be able to make a significant impact of reducing the root causes of poverty for some very low income people.”

The project, dubbed the “Farmory,” will offer unskilled jobs and Halvorsen said they plan to sell produce and perch to wholesalers and grocery stores.

Will Allen, a nationally known urban farm proponent, is working as a consultant on the project.

Allen, a winner of a so-called genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation, already runs indoor farms in Milwaukee and Madison with the group Growing Power.