What’s Left Out of the Conversation When it Comes to Urban Agriculture

NYC gardeners have been addressing food apartheid themselves for years by turning vacant lots into food production and distribution sites.

BY Alexandra Foster and Sheryll Durrant
FoodTank
June 14, 2024

Excerpt:

Urban gardens and farms are much more than just growing food, they provide safe havens for people to gather, heal communities, and restore land. Community gardeners are climate stewards addressing food insecurity, beautifying neighborhoods, and actively reducing waste. Yet, too often they are left out of the narrative nor get the credit or funding they’re due. They are putting in sweat equity, but their free labor is not quantified monetarily. And they’re regularly left out of the decision-making processes that impact the gardens in which they grow.

Community gardeners are not just tackling food security, nor are gardens simply emergency food sites. They are cultivating food sovereignty right here in the city—the right to grow, sell, and eat healthy food that the community wants in their neighborhood.

Urban agriculture is one of the City’s best nature-based solutions to address climate injustice. With the positive impacts to fostering healthy, safe neighborhoods, addressing food insecurity, sequestering carbon, and mitigating stormwater runoff, urban agriculture needs to be valued as an economic benefit to NYC. It empowers people to make decisions about their food choices, minimize their food waste, and lessen the reliance on emergency food.

With increased farming knowledge and improved land access by the city, New Yorkers would have more agency and impact on the City’s food supply and waste management. We need leadership to invest in a food system that reflects the people’s vision for a sustainable future.

Complete story.