Urban Farmer Gets Pickled in South Carolina
By Lorrie Baumann
City Roots is introducing a line of specialty pickles this fall. They come from a brand more familiar in the southeastern U.S. for microgreens and mushrooms, and while the new line of pickles will be available first to retailers in the Southeast, co-Founder Eric McClam hopes to expand the pickles, along with new CBD oil products, beyond the region as the organic farm at the heart of the operation develops.
City Roots was started in 2009 by father and son Robbie and Eric McClam, who were both architects. Robbie was nearing the end of his career in architecture even as his son was completing his graduate degree in the field from Tulane University. With the collapse of the real estate market in the Great Recession, both Robbie and Eric decided to abandon architecture to return to family roots in agriculture. Robbie had become interested in Will Allen’s Growing Power urban farming project in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and enrolled in its commercial urban agriculture training program. “In his retirement, he decided that he wanted to provide local organic produce to our community,” Eric said.
After his training in Wisconsin, Robbie returned to Columbia, South Carolina, his home town, and arranged to lease a 5-acre piece of city-owned property in an underdeveloped part of Columbia’s downtown and turn it into an urban farm. “It was a joint project, initially,” said Eric. The organization built a greenhouse on the property and added a commercial kitchen. Local students were encouraged to come and tour the property with their schools so they could learn something more about where food comes from. As the farm developed, City Roots started winning awards for successful urban development, and eventually, the city sold the land to City Roots.
Improve circulation: The very act of achieving an levitra fast delivery erection. It is not an addiction that cialis price is set aside for the homeless, the criminal or the abuser. Its efficiency in treating viagra pills wholesale erectile dysfunction is notably excellent, but it requires definite physician supervision to use. Why do you feel order cialis canada like it erectile dysfunction? There could be several reasons for hampered blood supply to the male reproductive organ. City Roots has experimented with a number of crops and business enterprises through the years, from microgreens to mushrooms and cut flowers and from agritourism to catering and became one of the largest microgreens suppliers in the Southeast, distributing to retailers and chefs across the region. “We’re close by and engaged in our community,” said Eric McClam, who finished his studies at Tulane and returned to Columbia to become part of the project. “I got my hands dirty and started enjoying farming…. I’ve picked it up and run with it.”
Two years ago, the organization added an 80-acre organic farm that’s a few minutes away, and the farm now employs 25 staff and is focused on its successful microgreens business, root crops and commercial hemp production and on continuing to be a community hub where students from local elementary schools and even the nearby University of South Carolina can come to learn about urban agriculture. “That’s been a mission for a long time as well,” Eric said. “We serve as a resource for them.”
This fall, the company will introduce pickles made in its commercial kitchen and CBD oil products made from its hemp into the retail market, starting with its home territory below the Mason Dixon Line, where City Roots is already a familiar name in produce aisles across the region. “Our initial marketing push will be in the Southeast,” Eric said. “Regionally in the Southeast is the initial focus, but we’re not going to restrict where we go. We’re already drop-shipping across the U.S.”
The pickles’ initial launch will include five products, all certified organic: Classic Beets; Curry Beets, made with golden beets; Spicy Carrots and Ginger Carrots, both made with rainbow carrots; and Sweet Onion, which is made with red beets and onions. They’re all packed in 16-ounce glass jars that will retail for $12 to $14 as well as in 32-ounce packages for foodservice applications. The company will also be launching its City Roots CBD line this fall. For more information, visit www.cityrootspickles.com, www.cityrootscbd.com or www.cityroots.org.
