An urban farm nourishes the poorest part of Philly as its growers fight to keep the land

Seattle’s urban agriculture community saw a boom during the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. BIPOC-led urban farms — like YES Farm and Black Star Farmers — had an increase in volunteers and people wanting to help provide food security, agricultural education, and land access to communities who don’t have their basic needs met. In the first half of 2020, the city of Seattle assigned plots of land to 439 new gardeners to pursue urban farming, with nearly half of them going to underrepresented populations.

A startup in California called Crop Swap LA is converting unused front yards into community gardens that can grow crops like kale, rainbow chard, and tomatoes as a way to feed neighbors. Community members can pay for subscriptions for up to $43 a month to receive a bundle of greens and vegetables from the microfarms and homeowners get a share of the profits. Each garden needs to have the proper maintenance, which can make it difficult to scale, but these gardens can help provide access to food to those who don’t have a grocery store in their area.

An income qualified farm-to-community incentive program has found its place within the Coloradan San Miguel County. Allowing farm shares to be distributed at Mountain Village Farmers’ Market, both communities win through affordable and healthy food and the providing of a consistent income source.

Community leaders are working together to address the issue of food insecurity in Mansfield, caused not just by lack of access to grocery stores and fresh food sources, but also often by unemployment, high housing costs, low wages, poverty, and health care costs. The North End Local Foods Initiative is installing food gardens in these communities, creating access to fresh produce, to educational opportunities, recreational activity and more.

After there was a fungal disease outbreak in the 1990s that affected cacao crops in Brazil, a group of 150 community members got together to collectively manage a farm to grow back cacao trees using agroforestry techniques. Because of their efforts, they sell their cacao to major chocolate brands and have seen their monthly income more than double.

A community-based seafood program called Fiishadelphia is the first community supported fishery run by high-school students in the city. They offer locally harvested and affordable seafood to a diverse customer base with an emphasis on accessibility for those experiencing economic hardship. The major cost is the distribution, delivery, and operation of the program, but so far, they have purchased 5,000 pounds of various types of fish and 25,000 pounds of shellfish and have connected community members directly to the suppliers.

Native American communities combat pervasive food insecurity with novel approaches to their Food Distribution Program which is a part of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). The Spirit Lake Reservation has applied this FDP to a grocery store as part of a triple-pronged approach that seeks to give recipients more agency over their food system through physical grocery stores, gardening programs, and cooking lessons using cultural ingredients.

Emerald Garden farm in Colorado is a microgreens hydroponic farming operation that is using a comprehensive approach toward conducting business. From experimenting with new practices to reduce food waste to diversifying partnerships to enhance crop development, the owners have successfully scaled the initial operation and are providing food for fine restaurants as well as grocery stores a local school district and potentially hospitals.

Following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, a group of women took the initiative to ensure that the food they consume meets radiation standards twice as strict as the government's. The Seikatsu Club formed in 1965 and has since built itself up to 400,000 members (about 90% of whom are women) and works with 200 producers. The group is highly productive: they run their own milk factory, join with worker collectives to sell goods like jam or cookies, operate a fund for farmers whose products are tainted, offer child and elder care, and much more. Seikatsu is a success due to its local citizens' control.

Sustainable agriculture and farming is on the rise on a national level, but it's not often so simple to get into the practice, especially for those that are new to the U.S. A farmer training program based in Washington County, Minnesota is trying to change that by enrolling a small group of interested Somali-Americans in a curriculum focused on becoming the next generation of farmers in America.