A Partnership Between Kraft Foods and the Chicago Botanic Garden

The Chicago Botanic Garden and Kraft Foods partnered to create a three-season, sustainably-grown fruit and vegetable garden at Kraft Foods headquarters in Northfield, IL.

The 8,000-square-foot garden opened in June 2011, with the expectation of yielding 14,000 pounds of food, equivalent to 28,000 meals. In accordance with the Kraft Foods mission to fight hunger, food grown in the garden is donated to local agencies. They include soup kitchens and food pantries in the networks of Greater Chicago Food Depository, the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and Woman, Infant and Children (WIC) centers in Cook and Lake Counties.

The Kraft Foods Garden was installed by the Garden's Windy City Harvest program. Participants in this vocational training program continue to maintain the garden. Windy City Harvest is a nine-month skills training and job placement program.

Following the opening of the garden, Windy City Harvest staff taught classes for Kraft employees who volunteer in the garden. Class topics included sustainable gardening, small garden how-to's, seed starting for cool season crops, and building healthy soil.

This is the first initiative undertaken by Kraft Foods at its corporate campus and the first corporate garden designed by the Garden.