Calling for the Urban Farm Czar

The Urban Agriculture Revolution

By Jason F. McLennan
Trim Tab – Cascadia’s magazine for transformative people and design
Winter 2009/2010

Excerpt:

As urban and suburban agriculture gains momentum, it will need oversite. One possible solution would be to establish “Municipal Farmers’ or Urban Farm Czars in every community just like there are city planners or police commissioners. These officials would rank high in local government, reporting straight to the mayor or city manager, and have direct access to all key municipal departments.

Here’s how it would work:

Managing urban agriculture.

Larger cities would require entire Urban Farm departments, while a small town might only need one person to manage its processes. The individual or team would be responsible for comprehensive food production programs within a city’s boundaries. The Urban Farm Czar would help assess and re-purpose appropriate public land for agricultural use. Vegetable plots would appear in municipal parks, fruit tree would grow along city sidewalks, available rooftops of public buildings and participating private buildings would grow rooftop gardens.

Turning property into profits.

Most cities and towns own vast tracks of land that end up being fiscal burdens due to the cost of cutting park grass and cleaning up trash-filled streets. By allocating a portion of its land to agriculture, a municipality could grow some of its citizens’ own food, charging enough to meet its expenses and employ its workers. The low hanging fruit in sidewalk orchards would be freely available to pedestrians, while the majority of crops would be picked and processed by department crews or private companies on contract. Produce would be sold directly to citizens or to local private enterprise. Even city-owned farm equipment could be rented to locals.

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