Deep Roots Farm & Laughing Planet: A Perfect PDX Partnership
Deep Roots Farm is a fresh-market produce farm — one that specializes in a several choice crops, grown for local consumption and sold in the city of Portland, just about an hour away from where the food is cultivated and harvested. They specialize in strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, cantaloupe, green beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, gold potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, butternut squash, and sweet onions, though they do grow more depending on the season.
With three trips to local Portland-area farmers markets each week, and just a few direct-to-restaurant distribution relationships in place, Deep Roots cultivates land over 70 total acres and practices sustainable agriculture. The farm itself began in 1998, and besides the family (including their daughters), Deep Roots employs 5 people to work the land. Albany, according to the family, has become a bit of a hotbed for family farms with a similar model, whereby crops are grown and then sold directly to market.
According to their website, Deep Roots “prides [themselves] on practicing environmentally responsible agriculture. Through scientific data,
ecological accounting, community integration, and good ol’ fashioned common sense, [they] feel [they] are legitimately making progress toward production that can truly be sustainable.” Continue reading
