How we work

Serving our community

Swanky Roots provides fresh produce to Billings and the surrounding communities! Delicious leafy greens such butterhead and leaf lettuce are available all year long. We have a farm store at the greenhouse where the public can shop our local products. We also partner with local restaurants and businesses to get our greens out in the community. Lettuce is the main focus, but we also have kale, Swiss chard, other leafy greens, and a variety of herbs and other vegetables we grow on a rotating schedule.

SUSTAINABLY using aquaponics

Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. Aquaculture is the raising of aquatic animals, like fish, in tanks. Hydroponics refers to cultivating plants in a symbiotic environment. Aquaponics combines aquaculture and hydroponics to form one interconnected growing system between the fish and the plants. It is a method of growing plants and fish together in a closed system so that the fish “feed” the plants, and the plants “clean” the water for the fish.

Beyond Organic*

Aquaponic systems work because of their living components; therefore,aquaponic growers are held to a life standard beyond organic standards. In organic farming, there are approved pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that are used for killing pests, weeds, and promoting growth. In aquaponics, you cannot use the same chemicals because they would kill the fish and bacteria. The same is true for commerical aquaculture-the antibiotics that are commonly used to fight fish diseases cannot be used in aquaponic systems because they would kill the nitrifying bacteria.

Aquaponics creates and uses its own natural fertilizer (fish waste), and keeps it contained within the system.