Growing Urban Agriculture: Equitable Strategies and Policies for Improving Access to Healthy Food and Revitalizing Communities PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works®. Find this report online at www.policylink.org. ©2012 by PolicyLink All rights reserved. Design by: Leslie Yang Cover photos courtesy of (from left to right): iStockphoto.com; Blend Images; iStockphoto.com; Eli Zigas (courtesy of SPUR). Interior photos courtesy of (from left to right): p.2-3: Colleen McHugh (courtesy of SPUR); p.4: Colleen McHugh (courtesy of SPUR); p.6: Blend Images; p.12: iStockphoto.com; p.14: TNDC’s Tenderloin People’s Garden; p.20: Nuestras Raíces; p.22: Allison Hagey; p.24-25: Allison Hagey; p.26: Growing Home; p.27: Allison Hagey; p.28: Quesada Gardens Initiative, Caren Winnall (courtesy of Added Value); p.29: iStockphoto.com, Growing Home, Green City; p.30: Eli Zigas (courtesy of SPUR); p.32: Growing Power, iStockphoto.com; p.34: iStockphoto.com; p.40: Allison Hagey. Growing Urban Agriculture: Equitable Strategies and Policies for Improving Access to Healthy Food and Revitalizing Communities Allison Hagey Solana Rice Rebecca Flournoy PolicyLink 2 Growing Urban Agriculture PolicyLink Growing Urban Agriculture 3 PolicyLink 4 Growing Urban Agriculture PolicyLink Table of Contents 7 Foreword 31 Working Towards Financial Sustainability and Scale 8 Executive Summary 31 Diversifying the Market 13 Introduction 32 CASE STUDY // Growing Power, 15 Improving Communities through Urban Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Providing Farming Healthy, Affordable Food to All Communities 15 Improving Access to Healthy Food 33 Evaluating Impact and Success 18 Improving Economic Health 35 Policy Considerations and 20 CASE STUDY // Taking Foods Recommendations From Farm to Market: New Models for Change 41 Conclusion 21 Revitalizing Communities 42 Appendix: List of Interviewees 23 Common Challenges and Innovative 44 Notes Strategies 23 Lack of Land Security 24 Inadequate Business Training 25 Soil Contamination and Cleanup 26 Start-Up and Operating Costs 27 Insufficient Income Generation 27 Insufficient or Expensive Water Access 28 CASE STUDY // Transforming Challenges into Assets: Urban Agriculture in Older Core Cities Growing Urban Agriculture 5 PolicyLink 6 Growing Urban Agriculture PolicyLink Foreword A vibrant movement is changing the landscape, Agriculture and Community Gardens tool in the economic outlook, and vitality of cities across the PolicyLink Equitable Development Toolkit (located country. The recent recession affected many low- on our website). The report is grounded in extensive income communities—taking with it manufacturing conversations with farmers, advocates, and centers, jobs, and people while leaving behind policymakers to better understand the operational, abandoned homes and vacant lots. Now a new financial, and social challenges that arise in making crop of urban farmers, along with activists, and this work responsive and relevant to the needs community organizations are turning that land of underserved communities. It highlights the into productive use and turning around their creative solutions that are being implemented to communities. make certain that the products remain affordable and accessible and that community interests are Urban farming brings a multitude of benefits to represented in the process. Tough issues like land struggling communities: improved access to healthy security and access to water are addressed. food, workforce training and job development, and neighborhood revitalization. Innovative programs The scale of the efforts is impressive and the and policies are cropping up nationwide; and city commitment to finding solutions no less so. Urban governments are creating urban agriculture-friendly agriculture is not an oxymoron. It is a beautiful, policies to support urban farming. productive, and unifying movement that is making a difference in our communities. With this report, we While the movement is exciting, PolicyLink is hope it will only continue to grow. The time is ripe committed to ensuring that it is an inclusive one. to embrace such a system of food production. Many of the emerging policies could better target low-income communities and communities of color—the very communities that would so greatly benefit from the economic opportunities and revitalization offered by urban farming. Growing Urban Agriculture lifts up the policies, Angela Glover Blackwell practices, and programs that are working to sustain Founder and CEO urban agriculture efforts in low-income communities PolicyLink and communities of color, drawing from the Urban Growing Urban Agriculture 7 PolicyLink Executive Summary In urban communities across America, urban supported agriculture (CSA). Farmers can agriculture is taking root as an innovative solution to choose from a variety of these retail options increase access to healthy food while, at the same to provide healthy foods to their communities time, revitalizing the economic and social health of and surrounding neighborhoods. Many urban communities. For the purposes of this report, urban farmers offer sliding price scales and accept agriculture includes small and mini-sized agricultural EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards for operations in metropolitan areas that may include low-income families in their community. (EBTs distribution, processing, and marketing efforts. allow state government benefits—including Growing Urban Agriculture details the benefits of food stamp benefits—to be deposited into this new trend, lists many of the common challenges electronic accounts similar to credit card or ATM and solutions, and presents policy recommendations accounts so that recipients can pay for food.) for further growing an equitable movement. • Use community gardens to improve healthy food availability for farmers Improving Access to Healthy Food themselves, along with their families, friends, and neighbors. Families who In many low-income communities, the only places to participate in community gardening are buy food are fast-food and convenience stores that able to offset typically 30 to 40 percent sell fatty, sugary, processed foods. Some comm- of their produce needs by eating food 3 unities have no food vendors of any kind. This lack grown in their own gardens. of access to healthy foods makes it difficult for • Use urban farms as an opportunity to families to eat well, fueling the country’s growing obesity epidemic and the severe health problems grow and sell culturally appropriate that accompany it. Studies have consistently shown food and connect multiple generations. that there are fewer supermarkets and other retail Many farming projects support often healthier outlets selling affordable, nutritious food in low- ethnic diets and help people grow culturally income communities than in wealthier ones, and appropriate foods for their families and in predominantly African American and Latino communities, all while connecting multiple neighborhoods than in predominantly white generations through farming and diet. neighborhoods.1 However, there is good news: Studies show that residents with greater access to Improving Economic Health fresh produce consume healthier diets and have lower rates of diet-related diseases than their counterparts in neighborhoods lacking food access.2 The economic environment of a community—job Urban agriculture is one such innovative approach opportunities, homeownership, and the presence to improve access to healthy food. Strategies to of diverse businesses—affects the economic health distribute healthier food through urban agriculture of a community. Urban agriculture can improve include the following: that economic health by creating jobs, providing job training and skills development, incubating and attracting new businesses, and saving families • Sell produce through farm stands, money. farmers’ markets, and community 8 Growing Urban Agriculture PolicyLink • Create jobs by growing an urban race, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, farm’s capacity, including choosing all of which are in pursuit of one goal. appropriate crops, growing techniques, Neighborhoods with community gardens and scaling up production. Urban farms also typically report reduced rates of crime, that offer packaging and processing in trash dumping, fires, and violent deaths, addition to cultivating are typically able to and an unexpected advantage: increased create a considerable number of jobs. Farms voter registration and civic responsibility. often spur additional business development and entrepreneurship opportunities. • Divert organic waste from city landfills into compost. Many urban farms productively • Provide job training and skills use food wastes from local retail outlets, development. Numerous urban agriculture restaurants, and residents, recycling this projects focus on helping individuals find jobs waste to generate compost for their farms. and providing basic job skills and support within their communities, all while using Strategies for Addressing urban agriculture to provide productive and empowering transitional employment. Common Challenges • Save families money by offsetting Urban agriculture projects have great potential produce expenditures. Urban farmers for improving neighborhood conditions; however, and community gardens can supply farmers face many challenges and obstacles when most if not all of their families’ produce establishing and growing a garden in an urban needs, sometimes saving