Producer

BeetRoot Farm is a no-till, no-spray, diversified vegetable farm in Carbondale, Illinois. Founded in August
We provide over 30 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers to LEAF, our CSA program, farmers markets, and local restaurants.

BeetRoot Farm LLC is committed to using production practices that are soil-building, utilize no agricultural chemicals, and require modest off-farm inputs. The farmers utilize the following practices to maximize produce quality, soil health, and on farm biodiversity.

No-till/Low-till: We occasionally will till the soil when opening a new plot, however, we don’t till our plots after they are established.

No Spray: We don’t apply any pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides . . . not even chemicals allowed under organic certification standards.

No Synthetic Fertilizers: for fertility management we use compost and other natural amendments such as pelleted chicken manure.

Cover Cropping: We try to incorporate cover crops such as winter rye, peas and oats, yellow clover, etc. Cover crops are our act of reciprocity with the soil: feeding the teeming life under the surface. Cover crops have benefits such as weed suppression, soil carbon building, reduced soil compaction from rainfall, and nutrient sequestration.

Soil Coverage: We seek to mimic the “mulch” layers of natural ecosystems - think the pine duff on the forest floor or the leaf and twig layer on the ground beneath a deciduous forest. The benefits to soil health are enumerable when done in conjunction with other soil building practices.