Top

Producer

Producer Image 1
Producer Image 2
Swanky Roots
Contact: Veronnaka
Address: 8333 Story Rd Billings, MT, 59101
Phone: 406-656-7668
About Us
Growing fresh, delicious leafy greens all year long in our sustainable, aquaponics greenhouse while connecting the community with local, healthy food and education. 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.

Voted Best Place To Buy Produce in the 2020 Billings Gazette Reader Choice Awards
Practices
Swanky Roots is committed to producing our product through sustainable methods. With the world population growing and the amount of productive land decreasing, our aquaponics system as the ability to produce multiple products within one greenhouse. And the best part--it's year-round production right here in Billings, Montana! We want to share the wonderful world of aquaponics with our community and why we believe it is important for the future of agriculture.

Our produce is grown in an aquaponic greenhouse - so no chemicals, no pesticides, and no herbicides are used to raise delicious greens all year round! Swanky Roots provides delicious, fresh & healthy leafy greens such butter lettuce and green leaf lettuce to Billings and the surrounding communities!

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 commercial 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.