John Calaway’s son lived with mental disabilities that inhibited his performance of everyday tasks.

The struggle of his son and other people with mental and physical disabilities to find meaningful and lucrative work inspired the inclusive workforce hiring policies of his indoor horticulture company Your Local Greens, where about 40 percent of employees have some form of disability.

Under current U.S. laws, most employers are usually permitted to pay disabled workers less than the minimum wage fully-abled workers can receive.

When Calaway solidified the idea of Your Local Greens with his business partner John Battle, who also has a son with a disability, they realized the corporate world is not doing enough to support mental health or the disabled, and they wanted to get involved.

“They love the work they are doing and we pay them a living wage,” Doug Calaway said about the employees of the company.

Farming of the Future

Your Local Greens is a Burlington, North Carolina-based company established in 2015. It specializes in distributing fresh greens grown in a cleanroom environment to restaurants and grocery stores, including Fresh Market, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods.

In September, the company raised $500,000 from 20 investors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Your Local Greens current product mix includes arugula, broccoli and kale. It will likely expand to include a wider range of vegetables in the future.

Calaway said the practicality of his company makes it unique.

“The world population is growing very quickly, and [people] need sustainable food sources,” Calaway said.

Calaway said his company can grow about 10 times more greens in a year than a traditional farmer can and with a lower spoilage rate.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the agriculture sector, which includes crops, livestock, fisheries and forests, absorbs approximately 22 percent of economic impact of major natural disasters.

Because crops at Your Local Greens are not grown in the ground and the factory can be reproduced in any city or climate, it is less vulnerable to the effects of natural disaster and is unlikely to be impacted by lasting issues that drought and erosion cause.

To keep its products fresh, Your Local Greens only distributes products within North Carolina. Products are usually delivered from the company’s facility to restaurants and grocery stores in under 24 hours.

Calaway said the company has received requests from cities all over the United States and he hopes distribution can become national one day.

Company Leadership

Your Local Greens is a young, growing company, but Calaway said the idea for the company had been on his mind for years before its conception.

Calaway earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering and management science and MBA from Florida Institute of Technology. He has experience raising capital in multiple startup companies has turned struggling companies profitable.

Calaway has been nominated for entrepreneur of the year twice by Inc. magazine.

Although he moved to North Carolina from Florida settle down with his family and retire, he said he could not pass up the chance to finally create a horticulture company when presented with the opportunity.

Calaway’s choice to begin his company in North Carolina was a strategic decision.

“North Carolina has many strong universities and a strong agricultural background. NC State has many years of background in horticulture technology,” Calaway said.

Your Local Greens currently operates utilizes about one-quarter of the 60,000 square foot building it operates is. The horticulture division Philips Lighting, a company based in the Netherlands, is a partner of Your Local Greens and is playing a huge role in its growth. Philips is also a major distributor of consumer and commercial lighting in the U.S.

The company has requests to build its indoor growing system in facilities across the U.S. and is looking into expansion.

Battle is a cofounder of the company and serves as a leader for business development He gained most of his business experience in the U.S. and Soviet Union and is the current CEO of Bizroa Inc., a small sociological and educational research company in North Carolina.

An Environment of Inclusivity

Your Local Greens works closely with organizations that connect disabled individuals with jobs. When employees are hired, the company utilizes their best qualities to make sure they are performing tasks that are manageable for them.

“We ask all of our disabled people to perform tasks as our typical employees, like seeding, plant transferring, plant harvesting, plant packaging and then cleaning,” Calaway wrote in an email. “After each of them performs these tasks for a few weeks, we work with their coach and determine which tasks they can do.”

Aside from hiring ethics, environmental consciousness is also an important value of the company.

“We are conscious of our water and energy usage and look to conserve where we can,” Calaway said.

Calaway said he hopes his company can serve as an example to other companies that it can be both successful and ethical.