
Adrienne Thadani founded the non-profit Fresh & Local in 2010, because she believes growing, even just some of your own food, is life changing. Growing up in Washington D.C. she moved to India with almost no gardening experience, but had a strong desire to eat fresh, organic produce. It was her own investigation and adventure into farming that inspired the formation of Fresh & Local. Over the years the work as shown her that even the smallest garden can bring people together and transform a place.
In 2015, she co-founded T H R I V E garden design studio with partner Jonathan Benda to continue and greatly expand upon her work with Fresh & Local.
Adrienne is a two time Unltd India Investee, and has received grants from UCL Grand Challenges, Wellcome Trust and UN HABITAT for her urban farming projects in India. he graduated from TechnoServe's Women Entrepreneur Empowerment Program and is part of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Mumbai.

Ganesh Lokare hails from an agricultural family, having grown up between Parbhani and Mumbai. He brings with him a blend of both the urban and rural context. Prior to working with Fresh & Local, Ganesh dedicated 8 years to working with children in conflict with the law through Aangan Trust in Mumbai. During this time he took the opportunity to build and run a therapeutic garden at Dongri Children’s Home, where children with ongoing cases were involved in growing, caring and maintaining the edible garden. This background and experience, coupled with his keen passion for farming makes Ganesh an invaluable part of the Fresh & Local team.


Apart from Gauri & Adrienne, the farm is managed daily by Dilip, Prathamesh, Sanjala Maushi and a few others. Not only do they maintain the farm on a daily basis under the guidance of Adrienne, but also transport the produce harvested twice a week from Alibag to Mumbai. The team makes sure that the soil is kept alive and in good health by use of organic wastes and other biological materials along with biofertilizers for increased sustainable production in an eco-friendly environment.