4Roots Mission:
Unearthing the Power of Food to Build Healthy Communities
4Roots is an alliance of community stakeholders investing in a
healthy, thriving, sustainable, food system.
About 4Roots
The 4Roots Campus is located in The Packing District, an emerging neighborhood just two short miles from downtown Orlando. The Campus will invite the community to gather and collaborate on solutions to address the broken food system while learning to grow in a diverse range of 9 different growing systems. The Campus will offer unique hands-on learning experiences that highlight innovative sustainable practices and cutting-edge technologies from around the world. Breaking ground in 2021, the Campus is expected to be complete and fully operational in late 2026.
Explore the 4Roots Campus
The 4Roots Campus will be the headquarters of our mission and will be located in The Packing District, an emerging neighborhood in the heart of Orlando. It will invite the community to gather and collaborate on the creation of a strong local food system. Featuring a diverse range of growing systems, it will offer a unique hands-on learning experience that highlights innovative and sustainable practices and technologies from around the world. Having broken ground in the Fall of 2021, the Farm Campus is being developed in multiple phases.
Education Center with Classrooms
The Education Center features four 30-seat flexible lab classrooms (that can be combined to form two larger classrooms) for hosting students, teachers, families, farmers, healthcare professionals, and more to offer hands-on learning activities related to food, farming, health, and sustainability.
Community Green
This 21,000 square foot green space is embedded in the center of the campus and serves as a beautiful venue for weekly farmers markets as well as other fun community events.
Greenhouse
The 1/3-acre greenhouse is a showcase for world-class hydroponic technology from Israel, as well as aquaponic and other innovative growing systems.
Field Gardens
The field gardens host over 100 varieties of seasonal crops, demonstrating regenerative agriculture principles that support healthy soils, healthy produce, and healthy people.
Permaculture Food Forest
The food forest consists of a 1/4 mile walking path for guests to wander and wonder through more than 75 edible plant varieties that demonstrate permaculture principles, or ways of working with the natural landscape to maximize health for the entire ecosystem.
Apiary and Box Gardens
- The apiary is home to our bees and is used to educate visitors about how these pollinators are a crucial component of our food system.
- Box gardens are scattered throughout the farm campus to showcase this popular urban farming style and to host workshops that educate about seasonal planting suggestions for small-scale farmers.
Barn
The barn is located adjacent to the field gardens and houses equipment for growing and maintaining the gardens.
Restaurant
This restaurant truly brings the table to the farm, sourcing fresh produce directly from our farm campus and from other local farms, to be used for creative and delicious cuisine.
Event Center
The event center will include a demonstration kitchen and can accommodate up to 300 guests for mission-aligned conferences, weddings, and other events.
Pavilion
This 3,200 square-foot outdoor pavilion includes an AV system for hosting speaker series, demonstrations, art performances, and more.
Café & Retail Store
The café and retail store features an innovative rooftop garden, and offers casual farm-fresh menu fare, as well as unique food and farming items for purchase.
Guest Houses
The guest houses are nestled near the back of the campus and host fellows, speakers, and interns while they are working on the campus.
Discovery Center
The Discovery Center welcomes guests to the campus, highlighting the 4Roots mission with interactive exhibits and technology showcases that share both the history and the future of farming.
Culinary Health Institute
The Culinary Health Institute serves to promote the principle of using food as medicine through collaborative research, education of healthcare professionals, and clinical treatment of patients. It is led by our Chief Medical Officer working alongside national healthcare systems, insurances providers, and other invested partners.
Impact at a Glance
>
2,000,000
served meals
1,200,000
pounds of rescued produce
400
agriculture students supported annually
Help Us Grow
4Roots broke ground on Phase One of the Campus in 2021. Phase One is all about education. Flexible lab-style classrooms, a teaching greenhouse, and other educational growing spaces will support programs for students of all ages, teachers and more.
