Education & Workforce Development
A New Crop of Compassionate Capitalists Second Chances Farm gives returning citizens a pathway to success BY AJIT MATHEW GEORGE
SECOND CHANCES FARM is a vertical farm that grows chemical- and pesticide-free leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, and pharmaceutical-grade hemp hydroponically inside a 47,500 sq. ft. warehouse in the Riverside community of Wilmington. At an indoor farm, the growing season is 12 months year-round. Our produce is unaffected by weather extremes or soil quality. And, as a vertical farm, we can grow up to 50 times more product per square foot—while using 90 percent less water—than a soil-based operation. 30
On any given day, the United States houses some 2,300,000 prisoners. This represents 25 percent of the world prison population, even though the U.S. has only five percent of the world’s population. As of July 12, 2021, Delaware housed 3,204 inmates in prisons with an additional 1,159 offenders in pre-trial detention. In fiscal year 2020, it cost $64,382 to house an inmate in Delaware for a total cost of more than $320 million. To add insult to injury, about 60 percent of formerly incarcerated persons are re-arrested within three to five Se p t e m b er / Oc t o b e r 2021 | DELAWARE BUSINESS
