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Alō Farms
One Man’s Vision Becomes Reality: Building a Sustainable, Resilient, Indoor Controlled Environment Alternative Farming System
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Jefferson Browne ■ The Birth of a Vision To most Peachtree City residents, Jefferson Browne is a respected architect who has always been interested in controlled environments and building them. Alo Farms is a product of this knowledge and his near obsession with bringing fresh, healthy, life-sustaining food to his community. “God put this in my heart to do—and so, I did it,” says Jefferson, standing in the middle of the foyer at his Alō Farms—a huge, indoor farm in Peachtree City. Over the years, following what is in his heart and head has led Jefferson to the present and the out-of-the box thinking that created Alō Farms. It has led him on various mission trips throughout his life—one to Haiti, in particular, where he saw starving children. On that trip Jefferson started thinking about growing food where there was food starvation whether it was the result of the economy, weather, war, or any type of instability. Afterwards, when he got the opportunity to design some gardens in Detroit in an area where there was no fresh food, the wheels turned for Jefferson even more.
■ Five Years of Study and Trials 2008-2013 In 2008, Jefferson decided he wanted to build an indoor garden where he could grow fresh foods for his own community. Once again, Jefferson followed where his heart and head led him. He made a commitment to build that garden. It would be a controlled environment to the highest order. He would deliver food security and nutrition to his community. As his wife, Debbie, said to him: “When God asks you to build an ark, you build an ark, even when it doesn’t make sense.” So with her support, Jefferson started experimenting at home. Every day after work, he went to his backyard, learning how to grow plants in the dirt. Once he had perfected that, he brought his gardening inside his house into an environment he could control. Jefferson used no chemicals. Zero. “I simply looked at what God had created, and I mimicked it,” he says. ■ Alō Farms was Born 2013 In 2013 Jefferson started a small-scale indoor farm in a building on Huddleston Road. His son Alec
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joined him in the effort, and they took the vision to the next level. “I was trying to find a name for the farm,” recalls Jefferson, “when a Greek word caught my eye. Alō. I researched to see what it meant, and found a translation. Alō means ‘To feed, to nourish, to sustain, to develop.’ The name was perfect. It was meant to be. Once again, God had shown me the way.” The new environment enabled him to learn how to grow the beneficial bacteria needed to produce healthy plants. It was better than organic because there was no dirt, just water. After years of research, studying, testing, and development, Jefferson and Alec implemented a scalable, sustainable, resilient, alternative farming system. They named it Alō Farms of Georgia. ■ Full Scale Production Begins in 2021 Alō Farms moved in 2021 to its present 20,000-square-foot controlled environment in the South 74 Business Park. The building is biochemically clean and air conditioned to maintain plant specific G GPeachtree City Magazine & App facebook pages
3/28/22 2:00 PM