Saskatoon city council frees 150 vacant lots for gardens

Paul Merriman, CEO of the Saskatoon Food Bank, sifts through the dirt on vacant property in the 900 block of Third Avenue North, where potatoes will be planted for the food bank. Photograph by Gord Waldner

150 lots citywide are now available for food production

By David Hutton
The StarPhoenix
May 18, 2010

Milton Taylor was sick of staring at dandelions.

The sprawling three-acres of city-owned land across from his photography business on Third Avenue North had long been an unsightly mess of weeds and litter. So, five years ago, as a test project, Taylor planted a small potato patch on a corner of the land at the edge of the north downtown in City Park, donating the 250 pounds of harvested potatoes to the Saskatoon Food Bank.

“I didn’t get a lot, but I got something,” Taylor said.

On Monday, city council, sitting as an executive committee, approved a plan to free up all vacant city-owned parcels of land — estimated to be in the range of 150 lots citywide — for food production by non-profit organizations with a mandate in food security, a policy that can be traced to Taylor’s request.

Taylor will work with food bank volunteers to till, plant and harvest potatoes — and potentially carrots, corn and beets — from the site, which is actually a collection of 10 properties that were demolished to make way for the eventual widening of Third Avenue North.

Taylor’s project will start next week if he is able to track down someone with a tractor to till the land. He estimates the three acres will be able to produce 60,000-plus pounds of potatoes by harvest time.

“As long as mother nature co-operates,” Taylor said.

Paul Merriman, CEO of the Saskatoon Food Bank, said there is the potential to provide all of the potatoes required by the organization annually.

“It’s huge for us to be able to do this,” Merriman said. “It’s not just writing a cheque, it’s turning (the land) into something that’s functional, that’s going to look good, and something that gives back.”

The urban agriculture movement is growing vigorously across the city with community-run gardens, rooftop and vacant lot gardening taking hold as residents look for ways to make use of undeveloped land. Urban agriculture has been an even larger undertaking in other cities, particularly those with weaker real estate markets, where food gardens are scattered through backyards, schoolyards and hundreds of vacant lots.

Saskatoon’s new policy has the potential to clean up some of the unmaintained vacant sites in the city’s core, said Paul Gauthier, the city’s general manager of community services.

The policy mirrors the city’s community gardening policy. Non-profit organizations essentially take over ownership of the land — tilling, planting, maintaining, and harvesting — on an annual licence agreement. The land must first undergo environmental testing to ensure it’s safe for food production.

“Wherever there is interest, now the mechanism is there to accommodate the request,” Gauthier said.

Council members expressed their support for the initiative at a meeting Monday, but said the city must aim in the long-term to develop the vacant lots.

“Then, they can still grow gardens in the back,” said Mayor Don Atchison.

Link to the story here.