Our Story

Sprout City Farms is an urban agriculture nonprofit organization based in Denver, CO, started by a group of farmers, researchers, teachers, business leaders, and community members that came together in 2010 with a vision for increasing food access and community resiliency through farming underutilized urban land.

Our farms serve as a platform for education, health, food justice advocacy, ecological stewardship, community wealth building, and neighborhood resiliency.  

We recognize that Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ peoples are the traditional stewards of the unceded lands we are farming.

Since 2010, SCF has built: 

1. Denver Green School Community Farm (DGS), a one-acre organic vegetable farm established in 2011 in partnership with Denver Public Schools;

2. Mountair Park Community Farm (MAP), a 1.5-acre organic vegetable farm established in 2014 in partnership with the City of Lakewood;

3. Dahlia Campus Farm, a one-acre organic vegetable farm established in 2016 in partnership with Mental Health Center of Denver (now managed by MHCD);

4. In 2020, we began working with Jack's Solar Garden in Longmont to plan buildout of a 5-acre agrivoltaics site, growing produce underneath solar panels and creating incubator farm plots.  We broke ground in spring 2021: learn more!

We continue to manage the DGS and MAP sites, and we also partner with organizations to build farms that serve their mission and programming: we worked with Mental Health Center of Denver to build the farm at the Dahlia Campus for Health and Well-being in NE Park Hill from 2015-2018, and regularly advise other urban farm operations.

If you have any questions about our organization, our programs, or how you can get involved, please email us, give us a call, or stop by one of the farm sites!

Denver Green School Community Farm, est. 2011

The Denver Green School (DGS) Community Farm is a one-acre organic vegetable farm established in the spring of 2011 on the grounds of the Denver Green School in partnership with Denver Public Schools.

DGS is a Title 1 neighborhood public pre-K-8 school in southeast Denver focused on teaching the concepts of sustainability, and serving diverse SE Denver neighborhoods.  In 2018, Denver Public Schools’ School Performance Framework rated Denver Green School as a top-performing school: #8 out of all 203 public schools in Denver, and the highest-rated middle school in the District. Not only that, but the student body is incredibly diverse, with 42 countries represented!

From the time they opened their doors for the 2010-2011 school year, the DGS leadership team wanted to grow as much food as possible on their campus for their school meals—that’s why they invited Sprout City Farms in as a partner to accomplish this mission!

The farm produces an average of 10-12,000 lbs of food a year—half of which is dedicated to food access efforts—and provides fresh produce to:

• the school cafeteria, where 68% of students receive Free/Reduced Lunch, through a first-of-its-kind on-site Farm to Cafeteria program,

• families of the school and community through an 80-share CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program (50% of shares are allocated for low-income households),

• a low-cost, donation-based weekly Youth Farm Stand manned by 6th grade interns on Wednesdays after school,

• cooking demonstrations and classes,

• and produce donations to the school food pantry and special school events.

SCF also hosts numerous educational programs and community events throughout the year, including workshops, field trips, tours, farm camp, an after-school enrichment program, internships, apprenticeships, vocational training, and volunteer days for all ages.

Mountair Park Community Farm, est. 2014

Mountair Park Community Farm is a 1.5-acre organic vegetable farm established in spring of 2014 in partnership with the City of Lakewood. It is located at the corner of 13th & Depew St. in the SE corner of Mountair Park, adjacent to the W line light rail tracks, bike path, and 40West Arts District ArtLine.

The farm was built in direct response to residents’ request for more access to fresh, healthy food and community gathering space in the neighborhood, through the 20-Minute Neighborhood Initiative conducted by the City throughout 2013. Residents were part of the planning and buildout, and a Community Advisory Committee composed of neighborhood stakeholders and partner organizations helps guide expansion of the Mountair Park Community Farm and its programs.

We average 10-12,000 pounds of food produced each year, and aim to distribute it equitably within the surrounding community.  A minimum of half of the harvest is allocated to food access efforts, including:

• on-site, donation-based farm stand where SNAP is accepted and doubled through Double Up Food Bucks (Thursdays from 4-6pm, August-October)

• 70-share CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program where 50% of shares support low-income households through no-cost SNAP/EBT, WIC, and Solidarity shares (Wednesdays from 4-6pm, June-October)

• weekly donation-based produce stand for 30 families of nearby 11th Avenue Head Start preschool

• donations to local hunger relief efforts including food pantries at The Action Center, Molholm Elementary School, Brown Bag Ministries, and Mountair Christian Church

Educational opportunities include programs for local schools, summer camp with the City of Lakewood, community events, volunteer days, tours, workshops, vocational training, and an internship and apprenticeship program.

Mountair Park Community Farm Beekeeper Program 
Are you interested in keeping bees at Mountair Park Community Farm?  Please review our Beekeeping Policy and submit your Mountair Park Community Beekeeper Application.

Dahlia Campus Farm, est. 2016

SCF worked in partnership with the Mental Health Center of Denver from 2015-2018 to design, build, and operate the Dahlia Campus Community Farm at the Dahlia Campus for Health and Well-Being in Northeast Park Hill (NE Denver).  MHCD now manages it on their own!

The Dahlia Campus incorporates a wide variety of community services and is a collaborative approach to growing and educating community members about food.  The Dahlia Campus Farms and Gardens includes a one-acre urban farm, a 5,400 square foot aquaponics greenhouse, experiential gardens for children, horticultural therapy gardens, a food pantry/donation distributor and a farmers market.  SCF enjoyed working with so many partners to bring this amazing project to life including MHCD, Colorado Aquaponics, Children’s Farms of America, People’s Community Food Project, and Mo’ Betta Green Marketplace.

After partnering with Mental Health Center of Denver for the first 4 years of the project—designing the space, building the farm, training the staff, and managing farm operations, food distribution, and education programs—in 2018, MHCD was ready to take it on and Sprout City Farms transitioned management of the Dahlia Campus Farm over to them.  Both the on-site greenhouse (built with Colorado Aquaponics) and the 1-acre farm (built by us) are now under MHCD.  They have hired our farm manager (who moved up the SCF ranks beginning with an internship and apprenticeship), and we’re proud to say we set them up for long-term success!

We plan to share our findings widely so that more farms can adopt these practices and harvest both crops and the sun as sources of revenue.

In the coming years, we will also create plots for aspiring farmers to incubate their businesses, as access to land, capital for infrastructure, and farming networks are the biggest barriers to entry for beginning and first generation farmers.  We’ve always been passionate about beginning farmer training and growing the next crop of small-scale sustainable farmers, and Jack’s Solar Garden allows us to take this to the next level!

We kicked off our inaugural year of food production by distributing farm-fresh food to the Longmont community through produce donations to The OUR Center, and are planning out what food distribution will look like in future years: stay tuned!