from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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JAFSCD is the world’s only community-supported journal. JAFSCD content is open access (free) thanks to the generous support of our shareholders: the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium, Library Shareholders, a growing number of Individual Shareholders, and our six JAFSCD Partners: |
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As the U.S. Congress reconvenes, a coalition of advocates has published a policy brief in JAFSCD, Sustainable agriculture impacts in urban settings make the case for federal investments, calling on representatives to provide more support for urban agriculture through a new iteration of the farm bill, which has been in a state of limbo since expiring in September 2023.
Built on the expertise and experiences of urban agriculturalists, along with research from the University of Michigan, the brief urges Congress to fully fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production for the first time in the office’s six-year history.
First established by the farm bill’s passage in 2018, the office wasn’t funded until 2020, and, even then, the funding was at only 20% of its authorized level. By providing more support, the nation could reap even more of urban agriculture’s undeniable social and economic benefits, the brief’s authors said.
“It is possible to unlock extraordinary synergies between the environmental, economic and social benefits of urban agriculture, and this becomes even more likely if policy is supportive of it,” said Jason “Jake” Hawes, the corresponding author of the urban agriculture policy brief.
In addition to expanding funding for the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, the brief also seeks to make that funding more reliable and to foster urban agriculture technical support and data collection.
“In this brief, we explore the ways that policy and planning have a role to play in supporting the climate-friendly practices already developed by urban food growers,” Hawes said. For example, on-farm infrastructure—including sheds, raised beds and composting bins—requires costly, upfront investments of time, money, and even carbon. But many urban farms and gardens are displaced within a decade of starting due to local policies or development pressures outside of urban producers’ control.
Thus, funding an office and programs that help extend the lifetime of these sites would go a long way in offsetting the startup costs and strengthening the environmental impact of urban agriculture, Hawes said. Long-running urban farms and gardens have already shown that, he added.
Bolstering the technical assistance available in existing USDA service centers could also promote greater access to conservation practices and lower other barriers to urban agriculture.
See the University of Michigan's press release of November 12 on this policy brief.
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS The USDA could play a stronger role in supporting urban agriculture, which provides MANY environmental, economic and social benefits. One step would be to fully fund the USDA's Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production -- for the first time ever. #FarmPolicy #PolicyBrief #UrbanAg #ClimateResilience #USDA #CommunityFoodSystems #FoodSecurity #FarmBill
Read the @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.141.002 |
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Photo above: Koppel Farm in Pullman, Washington. Photo © 2018 by Amy Christian.
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JAFSCD cover photo by Eugenie Doyle (co-founder and co-owner of Last Resort Farm); used with permission. |
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