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Hearty Roots is located in Germantown, NY within the Hudson Valley. Hearty roots an organic CSA farm that utilizes farming practices that contribute to the long-term longevity of the soil. Heart Roots is part of the local food movement.

History

Hearty Roots began as a one-acre mobile production to an established seventy-acre farm in just ten years. Founder, Ben Shute, was trained at Amherst College and graduated with no training in farming practices. He worked part-time in Oregon for a time and ten years ago decided to start his own organic farm and work full-time. Creating Hearty Roots, Ben and his wife Lindsey chose to follow a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, model in an attempt to avoid financial collapse, an issue many farmers struggle with. In the CSA model, members of the community invest in shares of the farm's produce, paying a flat rate for a portion of whatever the farm can grow that year. This model protects the farmers’ investment because the community, rather than a loan they have to pay back, supports them. Shute is also the founder of the National Young Farmer’s Coalition, a movement for farmers to support each other via lobbying on behalf of new farmers. Being close to a population center like New York City has helped Hearty Roots build a more robust customer base. Before the Shutes owned the land they currently grow on they were able to cheaply rent land from other farms, but the investment they put into the soil really started to pay off once they were able to grow on a permanent location. In their first year, the Shutes sold shares to friends and family and did everything themselves without any equipment. Hearty roots double in size every year, and currently they now grow for 200 families and employ ten people year-round.

Sprouts at Hearty Roots

Facilities

Facilities now include seventy acres of land, two greenhouse, and two livestock pens. The greenhouses now support sprouts for the planting season. Most of the effort on the farm goes into making the soil as sustainable as possible, over several years. Over the course of a year, Hearty Roots grows around fifty kinds of vegetables, many of which are composted and reintroduced into the soil. In the winter the farm plants barley and other cold-weather crops that continue to put nutrients into the fields during the non-growing season. In early spring the farm utilizes a specific type of radish that affects the soil in a way similar to plowing, reducing their labor. During the main growing season, Hearty Roots uses natural pesticides and plants particular flowering crops to attract predatory insects that eat the numerous pests that plague crops, rather than using pesticides and chemical-based fertilizers. In this way Hearty Roots is using techniques that make organic farming a more feasible venture. They also raise chickens and are currently experimenting with raising pigs to help nourish the land they grow on.

Pigs at Heart Roots