About
An operating company for the parts nobody else is operating.
Rootstock builds and runs the missing functions of a local food system in one corridor west of Portland. It was started by Drew Keske, who has spent a decade across ranch management, market gardening, nonprofit development, event production and field operations — which is to say the work here is operating work, and that's the experience on hand.
Rootstock does not farm, and it does not sell anything. It stands up entities, staffs them, and hands each one a single function to cover.
Operating philosophy
Own less, operate more
Ownership is slow and expensive. Most of what a food system needs is operating capacity, not a deed. Where land does need protecting, a nonprofit holds it — and an operating company runs it under lease.
Publish what works
The playbooks, the pricing, the platform. Harvest Provisions is free for anyone to run because a model that only works here is not a model.
Concentrate geographically
One corridor, one drive time. Density is what lets six functions actually touch each other instead of appearing on the same slide.
Build the unglamorous functions
Land tenure, working capital, conversion capacity. None of them photograph well. All three are where food systems break.
To be clear
What Rootstock is not.
- Not a fund. It doesn't pool money or manage anyone's capital.
- Not an investor. It doesn't take positions in other people's companies.
- Not a developer. It isn't looking for entitlements, subdivisions, or a rezone.
Contact
Say what you've got and what you want done with it.
Or write directly: hello@rootstockcorridor.com