Urban Agriculture Resources and Links
I. LINKS TO URBAN AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATIONS
II. LINKS TO URBAN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH & RESOURCES
Feeding The Cities
Case Studies exploring the role of urban agriculture around the world.
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC)
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 304
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Tel: 301-504-6559
Fax: 301-504-6409
E-mail: afsic@nal.usda.gov
Web site: http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/
The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) specializes in identifying resources about sustainable food systems and practices in support of USDA's effort to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture and farmers worldwide. See their excellent resource titled “Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms” by clicking here.
American Community Gardening Association
100 North 20th Street, 5th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1495
Tel: 215-988-8785
Web site: http://communitygarden.org
The Mission of the American Community Gardening Association is to build community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada.
American Farmland Trust
1200 18th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: 202-331-7300
Fax: 202-659-8339
E-mail: info@farmland.org
Web site: http://www.farmland.org
Founded in 1980 by a group of farmers and conservationists concerned about the rapid loss of the nation's farmland to development, American Farmland Trust (AFT) is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting our nation's strategic agricultural resources.
American Horticultural Therapy Association
362 A Christopher Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20879-3660
Tel: 1-800-634-1603
Formed in 1973, the American Horticultural Therapy Association has helped horticultural therapy gain acceptance as a unique and dynamic human service program. AHTA is the only US organization concerned with the promotion and development of HT programming. Formed in 1973, the American Horticultural Therapy Association has helped horticultural therapy gain acceptance as a unique and dynamic human service program. AHTA is the only US organization concerned with the promotion and development of HT programming.
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA)
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR 72702
Tel: 1-800-346-9140
Fax: 501-442-9842
E-mail: askattra@ncatfyv.uark.edu
Web site: http://www.attra.org
ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. It provides information and other technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, Extension agents, educators, and others involved in sustainable agriculture in the United States.
Austin Sustainable Food Center
Kathleen Fitzgerald
434 Bastrop Highway
Austin, TX 78741
Tel: 512-385-0080
Fax: 512-385-0082
E-mail: susfood@aol.com
Web: http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/
Sustainable Food Center (SFC) believes that every person deserves access to fresh, nourishing food. By promoting a vibrant and sustainable local Food System and teaching children and adults about eating healthfully, SFC provides long-term solutions to hunger and diet-related diseases. More than 20,000 Central Texans benefit from our programs annually.
Bioneers
Bioneers Main Office
Old Lamy School House
6 Cerro Circle
Lamy, NM 87540
Phone: 505-986-0366 OR 1-877-246-6337 (1-877-BIONEER)
Fax: 505-986-1644
Bioneers San Francisco Office
Youth & Satellite Program
2601 Mission St. Ste 403
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415.643.8633 /1.877.409.7222
Fax: 415.643.8638
Web: http://www.bioneers.org
Email: info@bioneers.org
Bioneers is a forum for connecting the environment, health, social justice, and spirit within a broad progressive framework.
Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens
598 N. Fairview Avenue
Goleta, CA 93117
Tel: 805-967-7369
Fax: 805-967-0188
E-mail: FairviewG@aol.com
Web: http://www.fairviewgardens.org/
Based on one of the oldest organic farms in California, the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens is an internationally respected model for small-scale urban food production, agricultural preservation, and farm-based education.
The Center for Urban Ecology
4598 MacArthur Boulevard, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007-4227
Tel: 202-342-1443
Fax: 202-282-1031
Web site: http://www.nps.gov/cue
The Center for Urban Ecology (CUE) identifies and responds to the natural resource needs of the National Capital Region (NCR), located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
The Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA)
41 Sutter Street, Suite 1744
San Francisco, CA 94101
Tel: 415-981-3004
Fax: 415-981-0172
E-mail: sfpmc@igc.org
Web: http://www.cuesa.org/
CUESA was organized in 1994 to educate urban consumers about sustainable agriculture and to create links between urban dwellers and the farmers who practice sustainable agriculture in the Bay Area. We are a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit corporation that also has, since 1999, managed the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
City Farmer
Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture
#801-318 Homer Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 2V3
Canada
Tel: 604-685-5832
Fax: 604-685-0431
E-mail: cityfarmer@interchange.ubc.ca
Web site: http://www.cityfarmer.org
City Farmer maintains an outstanding web site that highlights a series of interesting
commentaries, information links, and updates related to the advancement of urban agriculture around the world.
Community Food Security Coalition
Andy Fisher, Coordinator
P.O. Box 209
Venice, CA 90294
Tel: 310-822-5410
Fax: 310-822-1440
E-mail: asfisher@aol.com
Web site: http://www.foodsecurity.org
Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.
Detroit Agriculture Network
200 West Parkhurst
Detroit, MI 48203
313-869-7199, mailbox 3
http://www.geocities.com/detroitag/
The Detroit Agriculture Network's mission is to promote and foster urban agriculture and the sustainable use and appreciation of urban natural resources. We encourage the establishment of resource support networks, experiential education opportunities for youth and their families and collaborations that advance urban food security, good nutrition, healthy land, and communities.
Food First
Institute for Food and Development Policy
398 60th Street
Oakland, CA 94618
Tel: 510-654-4400 or 800-274-7826
Fax: 510-654-4551
E-mail: foodfirst@foodfirst.org
Web site: http://www.foodfirst.org
The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First shapes how people think by analyzing the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and developing solutions in partnership with movements working for social change.
Gardens / Mini-Farms Network
P.O. Box 1901
Lubbock, TX 79408-1901
Ken Hargesheimer
Tel: 806-744-8517
Fax 806-747-0500
E-mail: minifarms@aol.com
Web site: http://www.minifarms.com
The Garden Project
Catherine Sneed
35 South Park
San Francisco, CA 94107
Tel: 415-243-8558
Web: http://www.gardenproject.org
In 1992, The Garden Project was founded with a mission unlike any organization in the country: to provide job training and support to former offenders through counseling and assistance in continuing education, while also impacting the communities from which they come.
Green Guerillas
625 Broadway, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Voice: 212-674-8124
Fax: 212-505-8613
E-mail: ggsnyc@interport.net
Web: http://www.greenguerillas.org/
Green Guerillas serves as a vital resource center to help keep community gardens vibrant. Through annual plant and material giveaways and ongoing horticultural assistance, Green Guerillas help dozens of community garden groups get the plants, materials, and assistance they need to manage green, well tended gardens. Green Guerillas helps gardeners use their gardens as outdoor classrooms, cultural hubs, and environmental centers
The Hartford Food System
509 Wethersfield Avenue
Hartford, CT 06114
Tel: 203-296-9325
Web: http://www.hartfordfood.org/
Founded in 1978, HFS is one of the nation's oldest organizations dedicated to fighting hunger and improving nutrition on the grassroots level. We administer a range of programs, including a parents committee advocating for healthier school meals, a 24-acre nonprofit farm that grows food for local families and social service agencies, an urban agriculture mini-farm on a formerly abandoned lot, an inner-city grocery retail project, and extensive outreach and advocacy in the Hartford community.
Heifer Project International
Alison Meares Cohen
2916 W. Blemont
Chicago, IL 60618
Tel: 773-279-9022 or 800-359-9580
E-mail: alison.meares_cohen@heifer.org
Web site: http://www.heifer.org
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
P.O. Box 8500
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1G 3H9
Tel: 613-236-6163
Fax: 613-238-7230
E-mail: pub@idrc.ca
Web site: http://www.idrc.ca/cfp/index_e.html
IDRC publishes “CITIES FEEDING PEOPLE, An Examination of Urban Agriculture in East Africa.” Cities Feeding People examines urban agriculture in East Africa and proves that it is a safe, clean, and secure method to feed the world's struggling urban residents. It also collapses the myth that urban agriculture is practiced only by the poor and unemployed. Cities Feeding People provides the hard facts needed to convince governments that urban agriculture should have a larger role in feeding the urban population.
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
1200 Seventeenth Street, NW
Washington D.C. 20039-3006
Tel: 202-862-5600
Fax: 202-467-4439
E-mail: IFPRI@cgnet.com
Web site: http://www.ifpri.cgiar.org/
Search “urban agriculture.” Many articles linked including “Feeding the Cities: Food Supply and Distribution.”
The Intervale Center
180 Intervale Road
Burlington, Vermont 05401
Phone: 802.660.0440
Fax: 802.658.8075
Web: http://www.intervale.org/
The Intervale Center supports financially viable and environmentally sustainable agriculture. We manage 354 acres of farmland, nursery, compost production, trails, and wildlife corridors along the Winooski River in Burlington, Vermont, and we share what we do and what we learn with others around the state and throughout the world.
Just Food
208 East 51st Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
tel 212.645.9880
fax 212.645.9881
Web: http://www.justfood.org
Just Food is a non-profit organization that works to develop a just and sustainable food system in the New York City region. We do this by fostering new marketing and food-growing opportunities that address the needs of regional, rural family farms, NYC community gardeners, and NYC communities.
The Land Institute
Dr. Wes Jackson, Director
2440 Water Well Road
Salina KS 67401
Voice: 913-823-5376
Fax: 913-823-8728
Web: http://www.landinstitute.org
The Land Institute has worked for over 20 years on the problem of agriculture. Our purpose is to develop an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops.
Maize.Net
It's all about Corn! Click here to visit and contribute.
Land Stewardship Project
Twin Cities Office
2200 4th Street
White Bear Lake
MN 55110
Phone (651) 653-0618; Fax: -0589
Web site: http://www.landstewardshipproject.org
The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1982 to foster an ethic of stewardship for farmland, to promote sustainable agriculture and to develop sustainable communities.
Michigan Integrated Food and Farming Systems
MIFFS
416 Agriculture Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: 517-432-0712
Fax: 517-353-7961
E-mail: miffs@msu.edu
Web: http://www.miffs.org
A statewide, non-profit organization whose purpose is to improve Michigan's triple bottom line: our economy, our environment & the social well-being of our communities through Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives. Sustainable agriculture addresses all aspects of the triple bottom line to improve the state’s economy, environment and social well-being.
Michigan State University, Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
Anne Conwell
Secretary to the C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture
312 Natural Resources Building
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: 517-432-1612
Email: mottgroup@msu.edu
The MSU Urban Agriculture Resource Page is on of the great reasons to visit the Michigan Statue University's entry point for a wide range of activities in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Activities at MSU that seek to build the economic, social and environmental sustainability of agriculture and our food system. Connecting the production of food and fiber to processing, distribution, marketing and consumption are paramount to these efforts.
Nuestras Raices (Our Roots)
Daniel Ross
60 Hamilton Street
Holyoke, MA 01040
Tel: 413-535-1789
Web: http://www.nuestras-raices.org/
Nuestras Raíces was founded in 1992 by the members of La Finquita community garden in South Holyoke to manage the garden and with the goal of developing a greenhouse in downtown Holyoke. Nuestras Raíces is building cultural pride as well as the ability of low-income Latinos in Holyoke to address environmental, economic development, substance abuse, and food security issues. Urban agriculture has proven to be an effective way to promote community development because it is a way for the residents of downtown Holyoke to maintain a connection to their culture while putting down roots in their new home.
The Seattle Youth Garden Works
5700 Sixth Ave S, Ste 207
Seattle, WA 98108
Phone: 206.632.0352
Fax: 206.632.0355
Web: http://www.sygw.org/home
Seattle Youth Garden Works empowers homeless and under-served youth through garden-based education and employment. We are a market gardening program for youth ages 14-22 in the University District and South Park neighborhoods. Our goals are to connect youth to housing, health care, education, jobs and community.
Sustainable Agriculture Network
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 304
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Tel: 301-504-6425
Fax: 301-504-6409
E-mail: san@nal.usda.gov
Web site: http://www.sare.org
Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program. The program, part of USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, funds projects and conducts outreach designed to improve agricultural systems.
Toronto Food Policy Council
277 Victoria Street, Suite 203
Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W1
Wayne Roberts, Project Coordinator
Phone: 416-338-7937
Fax: 416-392-1357
E-mail: tfpc@toronto.ca
Web site: http://www.toronto.ca/health/tfpc_index.htm
The Toronto Food Policy Council partners with business and community groups to develop policies and programs promoting food security. Our aim is a food system that fosters equitable food access, nutrition, community development and environmental health.
The Urban Agriculture Network (TUAN)
Jac Smit, President
8209 Fenton Street, Suite 4
(at Silver Spring Avenue)
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: 301-495-9222
Website: http://www.cityfarmer.org/TUAN.html
The Urban Agricultural Network was founded in 1992 to focus attention on food production, economic development and environmental enhancement in towns, cities and urban regions and areas previously neglected by both the urban and agricultural development agencies.
II. URBAN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH & RESOURCES
UN / FAO site on Urban Agriculture and Peri-Urban Agriculture.
The Community Food Security Coalition provides a great overview of urban agriculture: Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States:Farming from the City Center to the Urban Fringe, Prepared by the Urban Agriculture Committee of the CFSC, February, 2002. Principal Author: Katherine H. Brown. Contributors: Martin Bailkey, Alison Meares-Cohen, Joe Nasr, Jac Smit, Terri Buchanan. Editor: Peter Mann
"Urban agriculture includes greenbelts around cities, farming at the city’s edge, vegetable plots in community gardens, and food production in thousands of vacant inner-city lots. Further, urban agriculture comprises fish farms, farm animals at public housing sites, municipal compost facilities, schoolyard greenhouses, restaurant-supported salad gardens, backyard orchards, rooftop gardens and beehives, window box gardens, and much more. Urban farming includes horticulture, aquaculture, arboriculture, and poultry and animal husbandry. The potential for food production in cities is great, and dozens of model projects are demonstrating successfully that urban agriculture is both necessary and viable."
The International Development Research Centre is doing some phenomenal work in the area of urban agriculture. Check out these publications and links:
Growing better Cities: URBAN AGRICULTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT by Luc J.A. Mougeot, Published by the International Development Research Centre, www.idrc.ca / info@idrc.ca
“In the past two decades, some enlightened municipalities have recognized the value of urban food self-reliance and begun to work with "urban farmers" rather than against them. Today, urban agriculture is increasingly on the international agenda, recognized as part of a comprehensive solution to the problems of runaway growth of cities in developing countries.”
The entire publication may be read online at www.idrc.ca/books, and serves as the focal point for an IDRC thematic Web site on urban agriculture: www.idrc.ca/in_focus_cities.
Cities Farming for the Future: Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive Cities, Edited by René van Veenhuizen. Published in the Philippines in 2006 by International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and ETC Urban Agriculture
“The livelihood of a large number of people in cities in developing countries, especially the poor and women, depends completely or partly on urban agriculture. These agricultural activities take place in various parts of cities, both in the built-up area (in back yards, along streams and railway reservations, on vacant public or private land) as well as in the rapidly changing sub- and peri-urban areas. Attention to urban agriculture is steadily increasing.”
Cities Farming for the Future highlights research that indicates that urban agriculture has multiple roles and functions and plays an important role in:
- enhancing urban food security, nutrition and health
- creating urban job opportunities and generation of income especially for urban poverty groups and provision of a social safety net for these groups
- contributing to increased recycling of nutrients (turning urban organic wastes into a resource)
- facilitating social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and community development
- urban greening and maintenance of green open spaces
» Printer-friendly version
