City Roots

City Roots, Columbia, South Carolina's first urban sustainable farm, is located on a three acre site tucked between a small airport, soccer fields, and a residential community. We grow a variety of vegetables for local farmer's markets, restaurant sales, and for our market on site. Our retail building on the farm is designed to suite the SC climate, minimize site and environmental impact, and is seeking LEED certification. We have modeled our green house production after Growing Power in which we raise tilapia and produce micro-greens and sprouts. The tilapia are raised in a tank which has an adjacent biological filter that consists of two race ways with watercress to serve as both filtration and as a marketable item. We also grow citrus and use the greenhouse for propagation for our field production as well. City Roots grows around 50 varieties of vegetables and fruits. We have several bee hives for both pollination purposes and for honey. We have a variety of chickens that we free range and move in our chicken tractor. Even our street trees that are required by the city's zoning produce fruit. One of the key factors in starting our farm is an education component and a community out reach program. City Roots provides farm tours for local schools, universities, and the public. We are actively seeking interns and volunteers.