Policy

There are many opportunities to provide urban agriculture at the local, state, and federal level. Policies should be developed in ways that ensure that low-income communities and communities of color will benefit. To achieve this, low-income communities and communities of color should be involved in policy development and advocacy steps to identify and advance an urban agriculture policy agenda.

Here are examples of potential policy approaches:

• Help identify and provide land for farming. Local governments often are eager to identify ways to make productive use of vacant land—and urban agriculture can be an ideal way to address this challenge. Localities can inventory vacant and private lots and make this information available to the public through a computer database and mapping program. They can also authorize contracts with private landowners for the lease of lots, authorize use of municipal land, and clear contaminated land.
  • The City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods has inventoried land and locations for community gardens, food bank gardens, and community kitchens that would strengthen and maximize accessibility for all neighborhoods and communities, especially low-income and minorityresidents.
• The City of Cleveland and the nonprofit Neighborhood Progress in 2009 created a competitive vacant land-reuse grant program to empower neighborhood residents and community leaders to turn vacant land into community gardens/farms. Currently, 30 urban pilot projects are creating community and market gardens, orchards, vineyards and farms.  The city also has passed an “urban garden district zoning code.”
• Chicago City Council created a city-funded entity called NeighborSpace which is authorized to purchase properties to protect them as open spaces, including community gardens. NeighborSpace secures land against potential development, provides basic liability insurance for those using the land, and supports community control of and engagement in local green open spaces.
• The Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas is working with the City of Travis County to map land, advertise the available land to the community, and help arrange lease agreements with the city.  It has also created a single point of contact to ease the process of creating new urban gardens.
  • Cities including Cleveland, Washington, DC, and Hartford, Connecticut, collect and maintain an inventory of public or private vacant land suitable for gardens.
• Provide grants and low-interest loans. Localities, states, and the federal governmentprovide financial support for start-up and/or operating costs.
• Localities can help farmers with start-up costs and/or operating support.
  • The City of Cleveland’s economic development department started a program in 2008 that provides grants up to $3,000 to urban farmers for tools, irrigation systems, rain barrels, greenhouses, display equipment, and signage, through a program called “Gardening for Greenbacks.”
  • Cities such as Madison, Cleveland, and Boston use Community Development Block Grant funds to develop urban agriculture projects.
• Localities, states, and/or the federal government can allocate workforce development funds for urban agriculture operations.
  • The Food Project in Massachusetts has received money from the North Share Workforce Investment Board to support their youth programs.
  • Growing Home in Chicago has received state and city government support for their workforce development work with homeless and formerly incarcerated residents.
  • The Department of Labor Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and Federal Bonding Program could potentially be helpful in supporting urban agriculture efforts that create jobs. WOTC tax credits are provided to incentivize private sector businesses to hire employees, such as formerly incarcerated individuals, who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment. The Federal Bonding Program provides no-cost Fidelity Bonds that offer reassurance to employers hesitant to hire formerly incarcerated individuals based on fears of theft or damage to property.
  • Department of Justice Second Chance Reentry Grants could potentially be used to train formerly incarcerated workers for urban agriculture jobs. Second Chance Act Reentry Grants focus on reducing recidivism rates and state and local spending on corrections. The funding for reentry programs address a number of areas, including job training, education, mentoring, substance abuse and mental health treatment, family-based services, literacy classes, housing, and employment assistance.
• State park bond initiatives can be used to support urban agriculture.
  • City Slicker Farms in West Oakland was awarded a $4 million grant to construct a new 1.4 acre urban farm park, designed through a community-based planning process with local residents.
• USDA programs can help support urban agriculture and community gardens. These programs can be a great resource for urban farmers, but there is a need for greater coordination on urban agriculture opportunities across programs, and a streamlined application process for urban farmers who wish to access resources. In addition, many of these resources are oversubscribed, making it challenging for urban farmers to access these resources.
  • The Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program (CFPCGP) provides grant dollars for projects that fight food insecurity and help promote the self-sufficiency of low-income communities. Food Project funds have supported food production projects, including urban agriculture. Projects are funded from $10,000 to $300,000 and from one to three years.
  • The Business and Industry Loan Program (B&I) can support regional food systems. B&I loans are traditionally available only in rural areas, but loans may be made to cooperatives for value-added processing facilities in non-rural areas provided they service agricultural producers within 80 miles of the facility and help improve producer income.
  • The Value-Added Producer Grants Program dedicates $18 million in grant dollars to farmers for adding value to their foods, including making pesto, jams, salsas, etc.
  • Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. This USDA-wide effort seeks to create new economic opportunities by better connecting consumers with local producers. Farmers and ranchers who are not quite ready to obtain financing from commercial lending sources can apply for direct and guaranteed loans. Targeted funds are available to smaller-scale beginning farmers and ranchers who have been in business for less than ten years, as well as to farmers who are women, African Americans, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans, or Pacific Islanders.
  • The Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center (HUFED) at the Wallace Center at Winrock International is funded by the USDA’s  National Institute of Food and Agriculture (formerly Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service or CSREES). HUFED provides grants and technical assistance for enterprise development and focuses on getting more healthy food—including local food—into communities who have limited access. The program provides grant dollars for local and regional approaches to aggregate and distribute healthy foods.
  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could support urban agriculture.
    • If HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is funded again, legislators should authorize that funds can be used for urban agriculture projects. NSP, a program established to help stabilize communities suffering from foreclosures and abandonment, currently restricts funding to housing exclusively. The first round of NSP funding was more flexible, and could be used for other areas such as public parks, mixed residential and commercial uses, and urban agriculture.
    • Green City Growers has been able to access BEDI grants through HUD. The Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) is a competitive grant program that HUD administers to stimulate and promote economic and community development. BEDI is designed to assist cities with the redevelopment of abandoned, idled, and underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion and redevelopment is burdened by real or potential environmental contamination. BEDI grant funds are primarily targeted for use with a particular emphasis upon the redevelopment of brownfields sites in economic development projects and the increase of economic opportunities for low-and moderate-income persons as part of the creation or retention of businesses, jobs, and increases in the local tax base.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency can ensure that non-governmental entities can apply for EPA Brownfields Program assessment grants for urban agriculture projects, and can ensure that projects to transform former residential properties into urban farms are not held to the same Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Superfund assessment standards used for former industrial land. This will enable more urban agriculture projects to use brownfields funding for their efforts to reclaim vacant and abandoned land, and will address the differing contamination assessment needs at former residential sites compared to former industrial sites. The EPA should develop alternative guidelines that can be used to assess former residential property.
  • Other federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury, or other agencies may be able to play a role in supporting urban agriculture in the future as well.
    • Green City Growers Cooperative has been able to use New Markets Tax Credits through the Treasury to support the landlord of their greenhouse, who then leases the land to the cooperative for their urban agriculture operation.
• Provide city services to reduce costs. Localities can provide trash collection service, compost from the locality’s recycling program, and access to water, tools, and storage facilities to support community gardens and urban farms.
  • In Cleveland, Ohio, the City’s water department allows urban farmers to use fire hydrants for urban farm use based on a predetermined rate. They have set water usage rates determined on a tiered system based on the size of the parcel.
  • Minneapolis helps provide access to water and compost for local community gardeners.
• Include urban agriculture-friendly policies in general plans, and adopt urban agriculture-friendly zoning policies. Cities can make long-term commitments to community gardens and urban agriculture by adopting language in its zoning codes and general city plan. Supportive zoning designations can protect urban farms or community gardens from redevelopment and encourage farmers and gardeners to invest in infrastructure development. Some of these policies have an equity focus and give priority to low-income, underserved communities including the cities of Berkeley and Seattle.
  • Berkeley designates space for community gardens in its general city plan and prioritizes community garden development in high-density residential areas and low-income communities.
• Seattle has committed to an “urban village” concept that assigns one garden per 2,500 residents and is committed to serving all residents. Seattle developed land use codes to encourage urban agriculture throughout the city. Some of the land use codes will allow people to grow food in their backyards and sell it, increase the number of chickens allowed in a backyard, allow greenhouses on buildings and vertical spaces, allow more flexibility in farmers’ markets locations, and reduce permitting and fees.
  • Also see Public Health Law and Policy’s Land Use and Planning Policies, which details model planning and zoning provisions for many cities.
• Pass resolutions, initiatives, and legislation supporting community gardens and urban agriculture. Broad policies supporting urban agriculture can be promoted at the local, state, or federal level.
• Seattle’s City Council President passed a resolution in 2008 supporting community garden and urban agricultural development. The resolution called for the Department of Neighborhoods (DON) to identify land and locations for community gardens, food bank gardens, and community kitchens that would strengthen and maximize accessibility for all neighborhoods and communities, especially low-income and minorityresidents. DON will work with the Seattle School District, the Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, and Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation to propose a process and strategic plan for creating programs and policies to support urban agriculture.
• Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter has created a food policy council and released the Philadelphia Food Charter, which includes a focus on urban agriculture. The city's "Greenworks" initiative, designed to turn Philly into "the greenest city in America," has a goal of increasing commercial agriculture within city limits.
• The City of Minneapolis adopted a resolution that will expand the consumption, production, and distribution of local, sustainably produced and healthy foods. The resolutions came from a series of convenings coordinated by the Mayor that included several city departments and community representatives. This group (calling themselves Homegrown Minneapolis) met over a six-month period and focused on advancing community gardens, small enterprise urban agriculture, farmers’ markets, and the commercial use of locally grown food.
• Local governments could designate a “point” person to help local urban gardeners and farmers navigate these city permits and comply with city policies.
• States can enact legislation or provide allocation of funds for programs that help support urban agriculture. For example, in 2009 North Carolina (SB 1067), Montana (HB 583), Oregon (HB 2763), Vermont (HB 313)), and Minnesota (HF 1122), enacted legislation supporting local and regional food systems. (See National Conference of State Legislatures for a detailed listing of state policies.)
• At the city, state, or federal level, a pilot program could be developed to support financially sustainable urban agriculture operations that would only need limited, one-time start-up loan and grant assistance. Green City Growers Cooperative in Cleveland and SHAR in Detroit are both working to develop a financially sustainable model that will provide jobs and other benefits for residents. These types of efforts could be replicated in other parts of the country.
• Federal CongressionalRepresentative Kaptur introduced legislation entitled Greening Food Deserts Act in 2010. The act would create a Department of Urban Agriculture within the USDA and boost backyard conservation, community gardens, and farmers’ markets.

• Increase funding for programs that provide community gardeners and urban farmers with training and technical assistance. For urban agriculture projects to operate most efficiently and effectively, the farm managers and leaders must have strong skills in nonprofit management and/or business operations, and must have staff who are skilled in agricultural production.
  • The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), formerly the Cooperative State Extension Services Programs (CSREES) can provide technical assistance through its extension programs. These provide research and educational assistance to help farmers, ranchers, and community gardeners. Extension programs operated throughout the country can work to address the needs of urban farmers. For example:
    • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension program has several opportunities for urban gardeners, including a rent-a- garden program, certified beekeeper activities, and a project that creates a network to link individual farmers and gardeners with each other.
    • Ohio State University Extension in Cuyahoga County has several urban agriculture and community gardening programs. Those programs include a market gardener training program, gardening for greenbacks program (grant program providing up to $3,000 to help establish market gardens), and programs to provide water access to gardeners.

Funding for many extension programs has been declining and therefore extension agencies are constrained in the breadth and variety of services they can offer. With increased and targeted support, extension programs could operate throughout the country to address the needs of urban farmers in underserved low-income communities and communities of color.

• Community colleges are starting to offer certificates and coursework in urban agriculture. Many courses are offered within a broader agriculture or “agro-ecology” concentration and add a business component as well.
  • Starting in 2010, Engaged Community Offshoots (ECO) began a partnership with Prince George’s County Community College in Maryland to offer a course in Commercial Urban Agriculture. The course focused mostly on farming techniques, but also how to plan and design a farm-related business.
  • The Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAgE) program in the Science and Math Division of the Seattle Central Community College focuses on food systems, ecology, and business practices
• Business training can also be important for running a successful operation. Many urban farmers have difficulty finding people that have both agriculture technical training as well as the skill set to run the business; this includes skills such as balancing the books, advertising, and analyzing existing markets.
  • Cooperative extension agencies could provide this type of capacity building (in addition to technical agriculture training and assistance); however, these programs are severely underfunded and many states no longer have cooperative extension agents able to provide this type of service.
  • The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) could be a good resource for urban farmers who would like help with business planning, accounting, marketing, or other business skills. SCORE receives grant dollars from the SBA to offer free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs. SCORE has over 364 chapters throughout the U.S. and relies on over 13,000 volunteer mentors. Most volunteers are working or retired business owners, executives, and corporate leaders.

There are exciting opportunities to grow the urban agriculture movement in ways that promote equity, with the help of supportive policies at the local, state, and federal levels. Policies that focus on low-income communities and communities of color help promote communities of opportunity—transforming abandoned lots into thriving community spaces, providing access to healthy food, sharing cultural traditions across generations, and promoting much needed economic opportunities. The seeds of change are taking root—and with the support of policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders, it can spread and flourish in even more communities across the nation.