With snow on the ground and the temperature in the negatives, where can you find fresh produce grown in Montana? Swanky Roots in Billings has utilized aquaponics to keep the growing season going all year round. Swanky Roots was started in 2016 by mother- daughter team, Rona Klamert and Veronnaka Evenson. Construction of the site took time and it wasn't until 2019 for them to be in production.
"I had originally wanted to start smaller, but luckily my mom had a vision," said Evenson. "She said that we would have to eventually expand, so we might as well start here."
It was originally Klamert's idea to try this style of operation. After seeing the idea on line, she reached out to her daughter to see if she was interested. Evenson's background from her degrees in plant science and ag education from MSU –Bozeman gave her some technical knowledge, even though it was different than what she envisioned.
"My family is in the cattle and wheat / corn industry, so I thought I would be doing something like that. When my Mom asked me about aquaponics, my first thought was: there is no way that will work," said Evenson, "Then I thought, well, there is no one else doing this, so maybe it is the perfect idea."
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