Hundred Acre Farm strengthens foundation, reframes future

Hundred Acre Farm entered 2025 with a clear objective: strengthen operations, stabilize output, and fully prove the commercial potential of its Milwaukee-based indoor farming model. By year’s end, founder Chris Corkery says the company was operating at maximum capacity, increasing production, expanding its workforce, and widening distribution of both its greens and basil-based products.

While the business remains rooted in hydroponic agriculture, Corkery is clear about how he describes Hundred Acre today. Rather than identifying the business as an urban farm, he sees the company as a vertically integrated consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand backed by indoor farming.

As the company looks ahead to 2026, Corkery says the focus is on disciplined scaling. He will continue to grow locally while preparing for measured expansion into new markets.

In the conversation below, Corkery reflects on the year’s performance, the evolution of the Hundred Acre brand, and how he thinks about sustainable growth.

MSUN: How would you describe 2025 for Hundred Acre Farm?

Corkery: This year has really been about performance and stability. We’re now operating at or very near capacity, and the farm is consistently producing at the highest level since we opened. The big story isn’t just that we hit that point. It’s that we were able to do it while improving efficiency. In the fourth quarter alone, we expanded our production capacity by about 25% within the same footprint.

We’ve increased our workforce significantly, essentially tripling our farmer headcount since earlier in the year. That means more local jobs, more training, and more people building careers in controlled-environment agriculture.

MSUN: What did that growth look like in the marketplace?

Corkery: We’ve expanded our store presence dramatically, increasing the number of retail locations several-fold just in the last quarter — while also continuing to serve restaurants, hospitality partners, and schools. It’s important to us to maintain a balanced customer mix. That diversity creates resilience and reflects how we want to show up in the community.

MSUN: Beyond greens, what other products is the farm producing?

Corkery: Our pesto has really taken off, both at grocery and in food service, and we’ve been expanding the line, including a nut-free version for schools. Soon, we’ll introduce a fresh salad dressing line built around the same idea: clean-label, local, high-quality products that live in the produce section, not the center aisle.

MSUN: You’ve said Hundred Acre is not only a farm. What do you mean by that?

Corkery: We’ve evolved into a CPG company backed by our indoor farming model. The farm is essential. It allows us to control quality, freshness, and proximity, but our business is really about creating premium, fresh food products built on that supply chain. The pesto and dressings aren’t side projects; they’re central to who we are now.

As we expand to other regions, the plan isn’t to ship food across the country. It’s to replicate the model with local production hubs feeding local grocery and restaurant ecosystems. That keeps the supply chain short and the quality high.

MSUN: How has the Milwaukee ecosystem shaped the company’s growth?

Corkery: Our relationships with Milwaukee-area chefs, hospitality groups, schools, and our local co-packing partner are central to what we do. Many of our earliest restaurant customers are still with us today, ordering weekly year-round. We’re also deeply invested in food education with school partners and field trip programming. And our co-packer, a multigenerational Milwaukee business, allows us to build value-added products while keeping production local.

There’s a tremendous amount of shared trust. We design our business around proximity, accountability, and transparency, and the community reflects that back to us.

MSUN: Looking ahead to 2026, what does the upcoming year look like for Hundred Acre Farm?

Corkery: 2025 has been about proof — proving demand, proving the operation, proving the brand. In 2026, we’ll begin preparing for expansion beyond Milwaukee while continuing to grow our footprint here. That will include raising outside capital to support what we believe is a scalable, resilient model.

At the end of the day, we’re here to provide fresh, local food in a way that strengthens communities. We want to scale that impact.

To learn more about Hundred Acre Farms, click here to visit the company website.