Category — Policy

“It will help the community find local sources for food, which can sometimes be a little cheaper, fresher, healthier.”

By Aaron Dubois,
The Minnesota Daily
February 05, 2012

Excerpt:

Proposed amendments to the City of Minneapolis’ zoning code would allow community members to turn a profit off of their market gardens and urban farms.

The changes to the code, authored by Ward 2 Councilman Cam Gordon with help from community members, will make it so individuals can sell their own produce, which was not allowed under the old code. Gordon’s proposal passed the City Planning Commission on Jan. 23.

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Growing Lots Urban Farm Tour with Stefan Meyer.

An upcoming zone change will allow the sale of urban-grown produce.

By Aaron Dubois
MN Daily
Feb 2, 2012

Excerpt:

Proposed amendments to the City of Minneapolis’ zoning code would allow community members to turn a profit off of their market gardens and urban farms.

The changes to the code, authored by Ward 2 Councilman Cam Gordon with help from community members, will make it so individuals can sell their own produce, which was not allowed under the old code. Gordon’s proposal passed the City Planning Commission on Jan. 23.

Russ Henry supports the proposed changes. His landscaping business, Giving Tree Gardens, specializes in organic garden installation and maintenance.

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“Urban agriculture a great way to make fresh fruits and vegetables available at reasonable prices to neighborhoods who do not now have access to them and it helps to build a sense of community where none existed before.”

By Chad Deal
San Diego Reader
January 31, 2012

Excerpt:

Today was a landmark for urban agriculturalists as the City Council voted unanimously in favor of amendments to municipal code which simplify the process for approving farmers’ markets on private property, make minor adjustments to community garden regulations, and ease restrictions for keeping chickens, goats, and bees.

In an affable session marked by laughter and applause, the Council heard from several supporting speakers ranging from Hoover High School geographic information systems students to members of the San Diego Beekeeping Society, the San Diego County Farm Bureau, the Goat Justice League, Food Not Bombs, the International Rescue Committee, New Roots Community Farm, the San Diego Hunger Coalition, and the One In Ten Coalition, as well as 55 written supporters who did not speak at the meeting.

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“SFUAA get emails from folks all over the bay area and the entire country – Oakland, Burlington, [Washington] D.C., Chicago – all actively seeking information. That’s perhaps biggest change since ordinance passed – visibility,”

By Catherine Adams
Fog City Journal
January 27, 2012

Excerpt:

San Francisco took a bold step in 2011 further legitimizing urban agriculture in the city. With the passage of the Planning Code Amendment on Urban Agriculture (ordinance 66-11), commercial garden and small farm sites are now legal city-wide. The ordinance received unanimous support from the Board of Supervisors in April before it was approved by Mayor Ed Lee.

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In September 2011, Brighton & Hove City Council became the first local authority in the UK to publish guidance notes encouraging developers to include food-growing space in new building schemes.

Horticulture Week
13 January 2012

Excerpt:

Included as a case study in the guidance notes is BioRegional Quintain and Crest Nicholson’s sustainable living development One Brighton. Completed in 2010, the pioneering One Planet Communities project was the first development in the city to incorporate on-site allotments in its plans.

Among a host of other sustainable-living features, the apartment roofs house 28 box gardens for residents to grow produce. With 172 apartments in the development, a waiting list has inevitably formed. But on-site green facilities manager Peter Commane says planning permission for further growing space has been secured on a neighbouring former brownfield site to help meet demand.

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Legislation that would exempt the city from a provision in the state’s Right to Farm Act restricting municipalities from exercising regulatory authority over agriculture.

By Jonathan Oosting
MLive
November 29, 2011

Excerpt:

Urban farming advocates say the law, intended to ensure all Michigan farmers operate under the same rules, is discouraging Detroit from allowing farms that would otherwise generate jobs and food.

“I see this as something that can bring real economic activity to the city of Detroit,” Smith told MLive.com. “I don’t think think there’s any other large urban area that has something like this going on. So we can be very innovative, and I really think this could help feed families and put people to work.”

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Success and failure in the worldwide urban agriculture movement

By Todd Major
North Shore News
December 28, 2011

Excerpts:

This has been a year of success and failure for the worldwide urban agriculture movement that is desperately trying to atone for past abuses against the environment and to respond to growing concerns about the safety and sustainability of modern food production.

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See the news video here.

The Common Ground Program’s goal is to license these properties for the cultivation and sale of plants, herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables

By Theresa Freed
News Laurence
November 28, 2011

The city of Lawrence and Douglas county are seeking applications for an Urban Agriculture/Community Garden land use program (Common Ground). Organizers say the request for applications is intended to assist initiatives for the development of urban agriculture and community gardens in the area, increasing local food production, and providing community benefits.

On Monday night, farmers and gardeners filled city hall to ask questions about the program.

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25 years ago, Council chairman Dave Clarke pushed through the “Food Production and Urban Gardens Program Act” of 1986

By Lydia DePillis
Washington City Paper
Dec 16, 2011

Excerpt:

Yesterday, Councilmember and guardian-of-all-things-warm-and-fuzzy Tommy Wells held a marathon roundtable on urban agriculture in D.C., bringing folks from all over the city to describe how they cultivate their gardens. As precious as land is in D.C., there’s actually still a lot of it that could be put to good use—the challenge is securing the right to put down roots.

As it happens, city leaders were aware of this opportunity 25 years ago, when Council chairman Dave Clarke—himself a well-known environmentalist—pushed through the “Food Production and Urban Gardens Program Act of 1986.”

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Part of map of Aurora, Missouri, 1891.

City manager in Aurora, Missouri explains urban agriculture as part of American history

By Tony Stonecypher, City Manager
Aurora Advertiser
Dec 05, 2011

Excerpts:

Aurora, Mo. —
Aurora is working to find a way for agriculture and urban living to be compatible again. When our zoning laws were written and the zones and their assigned uses were developed, it was decided that agricultural activities had no place in the urban area and they were banned entirely. If one looks at the way normal rural farms conduct their business, it is clear why this assumption was made. Consolidated feedlots and large machinery have no place in a congested city street, but is that really all that agriculture means?

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25 minute video discussion here.

Inside Town Hall – City of Sioux Falls – December 2011

Shawna Goldammer – Zoning Enforcement Manager
Rex Rolfing – City Councilor
Wyatt Urlacher – Urban Farmer

Chickens and turkeys in the backyard… Councilor Rex Rolfing takes on the topic of urban agriculture and what it means here in Sioux Falls.

Link here.

Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced the bill. Kaptur visits with master gardener Rob McCreary, left, of Toledo and Mike Szuberla of the Toledo Grows nonprofit group during the plant sale at Toledo Botanical Garden. Photo by Jetta Fraser.

Quick Summary of H.R. 3225, the Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act

The Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act will help create the next generation of farmers in our nation’s cities, reduce foreign agricultural imports, work to eliminate food deserts, strengthen local food systems and increase marketing opportunities for small farmers while improving seniors’ nutrition.

Next Generation of Farmers and Reducing Foreign Agricultural Imports
Economic challenges and land use changes have created vacant land throughout the nation’s cities. These areas could be transformed into greenhouses or community gardens by agricultural entrepreneurs but many of these individuals likely never thought an agricultural related small business was possible in a metro area and USDA has not traditionally engaged these communities.

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Urban Ag Study Highlights National Best Practices

Report by Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law
Authors:
By Mindy Goldstein Acting Director, Turner Environmental Law Clinic
Jennifer Bellis, Sarah Morse, Amelia Myers, and Elizabeth Ura
Student Attorneys, Turner Environmental Law Clinic
Nov. 2011

Excerpt from EcoWatch article Dec 12, 2011

This report represents one of the most comprehensive, objective presentations of current urban agriculture policies being implemented across the country. Some cities have reacted in a nimble manner, creating conditions that have allowed urban food production to thrive. Other cities are struggling to identify the best mechanisms to spur urban agriculture. What is evident is that there is no one-size fits all policy to address urban agriculture. Each community needs its own nuanced approach to balance the land it has available with the needs of its residents.

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Community organizations partner to construct an urban vegetable garden in Ft. Myers, Florida. Photo credit: Gabriel Kamener. Used under Creative Commons license.

The Sustainable Economies Law Center has created an Urban Ag Legal Resource Library

By SELC
The Sustainable Economies Law Center
12.01.11

Excerpt:

Here are a few suggestions for ways that cities can adopt policies to facilitate the growth of urban agriculture and community food growing spaces:

Offer property tax incentives for vacant private lots that are used for urban farming: Cities should offer private land owners a property tax discount during years when an otherwise empty lot is used for food growing. The Williamson Act in California already provides property tax incentives to preserve land as agricultural in rural areas, and a similar policy should be applied in urban areas. Generally, land has higher income earning potential when it is built up with strip malls and housing developments. But it doesn’t always make sense to assess a property based on this potential value when the land is actually being used for a more modest activity, like agriculture. Even if a piece of land will eventually be developed, landowners should be rewarded for putting it to productive agricultural use in the meantime. Such a tax incentive could dramatically multiply the amount of available land for community gardening and urban farming.

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Livia Marqués and Juanita Ewell stand in front of the tool shed at Eat Healthy Live Healthy Urban Garden in the 900 block of Cherry Hill Road, Baltimore City, Maryland. The mural was painted by Towson University student John Rice.

USDA Expands People’s Garden Initiative to Sow Seeds for Community-Based Agriculture across the Country

News Release – USDA
Washington Nov 10, 2011

Projects were funded in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan and Ohio. Grants were awarded to:

Homer Soil and Water Conservation District, Alaska, $110,500
Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona, Arizona, $5,000
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, California, $29,000
Denver Urban Gardens, Colorado, $70,000
Knox Parks, Inc., Connecticut, $50,000
Heritage Ranch, Inc., Hawaii, $110,500
Alliance for Community Trees, Inc., Maryland, $150,000
Towson University, Maryland, $60,000
Calhoun Conservation District, Michigan, $70,000
Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, Ohio, $70,000

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Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

‘If a developer came to you, you’d give out the tax breaks,’ Clarke says

By Luke Broadwater,
The Baltimore Sun
November 22, 2011

Excerpt:

A City Council committee on Tuesday killed a bill to grant tax breaks to nonprofit urban farmers after the mayor’s office said it would set a bad precedent.

The opposition by the administration of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake outraged Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, a sponsor of the measure.

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Pilot program opens door to urban agriculture in Boston, making two vacant city-owned parcels available for farming

Mayor’s Press Office
November 16, 2011

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced the adoption of a progressive text and map amendment to the city’s zoning code, which passed unanimously at the Zoning Board Association meeting this morning. The amendment will allow the city to move forward with an Urban Agriculture Pilot project, making use of two vacant city owned parcels in Dorchester at 23-29 Tucker Street and 131 Glenway Street. The updated zoning code will allow the land be farmed to provide fresh and healthy food for sale to local residents and businesses.

“Boston is at the forefront of the urban agriculture movement and with this zoning amendment we are taking a proactive approach that will allow us to further explore the benefits of urban farming,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said. “This project is an opportunity to take underutilized city land and put it to productive use. Community gardening brings neighbors together and it creates a new way to get healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables into neighborhood stores and kitchens.”

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San Diegans are getting excited as the urban agriculture ordinance works its way through the city’s long and winding government system

By Jill Richardson
Grist
Oct 29, 2011

Excerpt:

An advocacy group formed calling itself the 1 in 10 Coalition, in reference to their hope that — once the rules changed — one in 10 people in San Diego would be able to get at least some of their food locally. One of the group’s leaders was Parke Troutman, who had written a PhD dissertation on land-use politics in the city and county of San Diego. “[It] was a land-use issue, and only a few of us had experience with that,” he recalls.

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The Harare City Council now has the blessing of the Zimbabwe Republic Police to slash crops grown in the city in an effort to curb environmental degradation brought about by urban farming. The move has received with mixed feelings from residents and political parties.

By Seven Nematiyere
The Zimbabwean
09.11.11

Excerpt:

With the coming of a new growing season, all places without buildings on them are being cultivated. These include football, netball and basketball pitches, road-sides and recreational parks as well as wetlands. This has resulted in serious environmental degradation including soil erosion and siltation. Most drains in the city in such places like Glen Norah, Tafara, Highfield, Kambuzuma and Mufakose are blocked with soil resulting in flooding that sometimes affects the sewerage system.

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Forward by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

By Olivia Varley-Winter
City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development
Capital Growth
Oct 2011 – 59 pages

Excerpt from Executive Summary:

This report aims to:

show that many community food-growing groups and other urban agriculture projects provide community-based learning and training opportunities, and are an effective way to develop employability for people in general,

outline how such projects can help people who face difficulties in finding and keeping work in particular, and

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