Interesting Urban Farming Projects
There is a new trend germinating in America’s cities—reclaiming vacant and abandoned lots and installing small-scale community-based farms. "Urban farming" helps clean up blighted neighborhoods, contributes to healthier eating, and educates inner city communities about where food comes from and how it is produced. Occurring in some of our country's poorest and most challenged neighborhoods, it’s believed that urban farming can benefit anyone from elementary school students and prison inmates to the elderly. Here’s a look at some of the more interesting urban farming projects happening around the country today.
The Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students (BUGS) Program works with children from underserved Baltimore City communities with after-school and summer programs. A national model for programs of this type, BUGS exposes children with limited access to green space to activities such as gardening and cooking.
Friendship Gardens in Charlotte, North Carolina is a collection of over 90 community, school, faith-based, institutional, public, private, and backyard gardens. The collective's mission is simple: to grow healthy food and make it available to everyone—especially to people with limited access—while strengthening communities and building knowledge about food production. The majority of the produce goes to Friendship Trays, a meals-on-wheels program that delivers 750 meals a day to local community members in need.
Hantz Woodlands in Detroit, Michigan, is turning blight to beauty by removing debris and abandoned buildings and converting the reclaimed space into an urban forest. Not only is the project creating jobs and beautifying the city, Hantz Woodlands also relieves the city of some of the economic burden of upkeep to these areas. It also contributes by paying property tax to the city, and has cleaned up and maintained some of Detroit's other underserviced neighborhoods.
Urban Sprouts in San Francisco, California, is using urban farming to foster community spirit and build healthier neighborhoods. Urban Sprouts believes that introducing children to the growing of food can improve their attitudes toward the environment, increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables, and motivate them to make healthy changes in their eating habits at school and at home.
Ron Finley is bringing real change to South Central Los Angeles, an area he dubs “home of the drive-thru and the drive-by.” What started out as a curbside vegetable garden has grown into a much larger idea. Using public land, Finley has started a movement that strives to provide nourishment, empowerment, education, health and hope for the future— one urban garden at a time.
Our business depends on the hard-working American and global farmers that feed, clothe, and fuel our population. We know that bringing green space and agriculture back to the cities will strengthen communities, improve eating habits, and create a more thorough understanding of food production. A rising tide lifts all ships, and as awareness of the critical importance of agriculture as a part of our economy rises, so will our commitment to providing the best possible resources to help farmers get the most out of their land through high-quality, economical and environmentally sound farm tires.
