If a green business in Greenfield sounds to you like a line from the environmental cautionary tale “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss, you probably aren’t alone. Residents Max and Nikki Poritzkys’ Foothills Farm is using the most ecologically sustainable vertical container farm technology to supply area restaurants with the finest, healthiest, pesticide-free greens around.

“We don’t consider ourselves activists,” said Poritzky, “However, environmental responsibility and the climate is extremely important to me.”

Their farm, which they built in 2023 shortly after relocating here, consists of a 320-square-foot container that, honestly, feels a little bit like walking into to a space exhibit at EPCOT Center. There is 3,000 linear feet of growing channels, which produces the same number of crops you might garden on two acres of land if you had perfect weather all year round. A nursery features trays where seedlings spend their first two weeks before being transplanted into vertical panels. Four floor-to-ceiling growing walls line up like rotating racks in a fancy closet. Dozens of plants line each wall growing in a foam medium rather than soil and are fed a precisely formulated nutrient rich water solution every 25 minutes. Walls of LED lights face the plant walls and emitters sit over the top, to provide a perfect gravity-fed channel of nutrients and water to the crops. 

The smell is one of divinity, as hundreds of magazine-photo-worthy plants meet your senses. Products include: herbs like basil and dill; leafy greens like arugula, chard, mustard greens and kale; lettuces like red oak, green sweet crisp, green oak leaf; and much more. 

This method requires 90 percent less water than traditional farming, no pesticides, very little tree clearing, and minimal energy due to its significant solar power.  There is no soil or pots, only peat moss and coconut fiber, to protect the roots to keep it clean and biodegradable. To clean the equipment, they use ZeroTol, a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide that is non-toxic, food safe and evaporates leaving no chemical residue.

Foothills Farm has the ability to produce around 900 heads of lettuce each week. Each Thursday, greens are delivered to restaurants throughout the area including: Next Door Kitchen, Hamlet & Ghost, Farmacy, Brook Tavern and Scallions. They provide Skidmore more than 30 pounds of greens for its award-winning dining hall each week. 

“Our products attract incredibly creative chefs who as part of their ethos value sustainable, local produce,” Poritzky said. “Our partnership assures they have greens that are extremely consistent and high quality.”

The precision of his farming is all controlled by an app on Max’s mobile phone. His plants have 24-hour monitored temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, PH, nutrients and light control. Poritzky explained that each crop has its own “recipe” of optimal conditions. Things like weather and seasons make no impact.

Poritzky and his wife, Nikki,  both live in a highly efficient home that was reconstructed in 1999 using the posts and beams of a 150-year-old farmhouse. They both have spent more than 25 years as executives in nutrition and the integrative health care products industry. Nikki has a master’s degree in nutritional biochemistry from Tufts University. They both continue these careers in addition to owning and running the farm.

“Through Foot Hills Farm, we are able to use our background and love for health and sustainability for the betterment of our community,” Poritzky said.

He first learned of this high-container farming while visiting the San Jose Tech Museum in 2017, where he saw a kiosk featuring farms of this type.

“It was the coolest thing and the only thing I even remember from that visit,” he said. “This became a passion project for me.”

Poritzky spent five years researching and planning before he and Nikki made the initial capital investment of approximately $200,000, allowing them to install their first farm unit. The amazing business has much room to grow on its 28-acre, heavily wooded property, set back deep with its long windy driveway off of Middle Grove Road. As the business expands, more containers can be purchased and even stacked on top of one another. 

The Poritzkys have four children between them. Two are in their 20s, and they have an 11 and 13-year-old, who attend Maple Avenue Middle School.

“We absolutely love Greenfield,” he said. ” It is the best possible situation here with our total serenity, privacy, beauty and freedom along with the art, restaurants, music and vibe of Saratoga Springs, just eight minutes away.”

“What’s happening in Greenfield is exciting,” he continued. “I have loved watching the community development with gatherings like the Farmers Market this summer. I’d like to see people continue to invest in this community and build places where we can meet more neighbors.”

Like the Lorax, the Poritzkys believe it is a privilege to have this much beautiful land to steward and that it is up to them to take care of it responsibly. They’d like to build a larger off-grid timber frame home on the property in the near future.

“It’s exciting to see Greenfield residents pursue their passions,” said Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch. “We love to hear that the restaurants in the area are getting their greens from a Greenfield business. We applaud this environmentally state-of-the-art company.”

If you know any restaurant owners looking for fresh one-of-a-kind local greens, put them in touch with Foothills Farm at 518-290-0533. We hope that, at minimum, learning about this local business inspires you to eat more leafy greens.