City Greens Plants Roots In Beverly Hills

The farm’s hydroponic towers sustainably grow produce, including within Beverly Hills High School classrooms. (photo courtesy of Sue Yovetich)

West Los Angeles nonprofit farm City Greens planted roots in Beverly Hills, and the community is harvesting the rewards. Throughout the past school year, the farm partnered with Beverly Hills High School to install three hydroponic towers – a space-efficient farming method that uses nutrient-enhanced water to grow crops faster than soil farming. Thanks to the partnership, the high school now has five towers growing fresh and sustainable ingredients.

“Just this week we put a tower at the middle school, Beverly Vista, in a science classroom,” City Greens executive director Jen Levy said. “Our goal is to get the whole district involved and figure out how we can grow more food for them.”

Levy is a self-described “farm guru” and has been an educator for over 20 years. She founded City Greens alongside her sister, health and wellness expert Hope Levy-Biehl, and communications specialist Gaby Reims Alexander in January 2020. The farm was originally called Beverly Hills Community Farm before expanding and changing its name in 2022.

“The goal was to be an educational nonprofit farm in a big city,” Levy said, “to show people that there’s a way to grow food sustainably in big cities without using chemicals or anything harmful to the Earth.”

Levy said the crops from three of the five towers at Beverly Hills High School are donated to local organizations such as Menorah Housing Foundation, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing for low-income seniors.

In addition to fresh produce, the partnership also expands the high school’s environmental education opportunities. Levy has visited classes at the school – including AP biology, AP human geography and environmental science – to teach about sustainable farming. Levy said the environmental science visits include teaching about subjects such as sustainable growing, local food production, food waste and carbon footprints. Environmental science teacher Sue Yovetich’s classroom has a hydroponic tower that offers a hands-on approach to learning about the unique farming method.

“The students were] so surprised at how quickly the plants grew, how little space it took up, how much energy it actually consumed,” Yovetich said. “Really, the bulk of the product that we yielded from it is pretty amazing. And the idea of not having to fight off insects and therefore not having to use pesticides and really having good organic reusable plants … It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

The community farm’s headquarters is located in West L.A. in a similarly space-saving location – inside a shipping container at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.

“It’s pretty remarkable. It’s the equivalent of two and a half acres of outdoor production inside one shipping container, using about 90% less water and 95% less land,” Levy said. “So there’s room for almost 8,000 plants – both in living grow-walls and in a germination seedling area. The goal is really again to start growing food on a big scale in big cities.”

The unique urban farm also hosts field trips for BHUSD students – including students in special education programs.

City Greens’ partnership with Beverly Hills Unified School District is funded by a community assistance grant, a program that falls under the city of Beverly Hills’ general fund. The farm has also received grants from the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills.

On April 18, City Greens donated a hydroponic tower to the Beverly Hills Fire Department station on Rexford Drive. The donation will bring fresh herbs and produce to the station, where Beverly Hills firefighters cook large meals for the team of first responders on a daily basis.

“It’s an outstanding donation by City Greens to provide this tower to the members of the Beverly Hills Fire Department,” Fire Chief Greg Barton said. “The firefighters cook all their meals, and they try to cook healthy. They always want to use different types of spices and whatever else is available, and to have this organic material that they can use to cook with is outstanding.”

In addition to its towers in Beverly Hills, the farm has towers at other schools and community centers throughout L.A. and is hoping to expand to more locations.

“We are working on really forming relationships with restaurants and grocery stores and other people so that we can get our produce out more into the public. We harvest and deliver within the same day always, it’s about as fresh as it can be,” Levy said.

City Greens founder Jen Levy, board member Susan Kimura and board member Ariel Ouziel presented the hydroponic tower to Beverly Hills Fire Capt. Geoff Ertel and firefighter/paramedic Jake Morrow on April 18. (photo by Tabor Brewster)

For information, visit citygreensfarm.org.