Karen Washington on NYC Food Security and Lifting Up a New Generation of Black and Brown Farmers
Karen Washington is one of the most influential food and farming activists of our time. From starting the Garden of Happiness in the Bronx, Black Urban Growers, and now Rise and Root Farm, Karen is modeling a new food system based on equity, social capital, and health. New York State has over 57,000 farmers, and […]
Introducing Courtney Leeds of Schoolyard Farms in Milwaukie, OR
We’re excited to publish a new Farmer Profile of an inspiring beginning farmer every few weeks on the NYFC blog to help showcase the breadth and vision of the next generation of agricultural leaders. I’m Courtney Leeds, cofounder & director of Schoolyard Farms, a one acre urban farm in the schoolyard of Candy Lane Elementary […]
URBAN FARMING TO THE BIG SCREEN, GROWING CITIES PREMIERS AT THE PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL
Our friends Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette of Growing Cities are premiering their film, three years in the making, at the Portland Film Festival this Sunday, September 1st (8pm) at The Fields Park, NW 10th and Overton. We first covered their process filming the urban agriculture revolution last April on the blog, and have excitedly anticipated […]
Young Farmers Shine at Growing Power Conference
Recently, I had the chance to attend Growing Power’s National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference in Milwaukee. It was a great experience, and I’m glad that I had the chance to meet lots of people from around the country interested in urban and sustainable agriculture. The workshops I attended were terrific, and many of them […]
From Strip Mall to Urban Farm: New Directions for Holland, Michigan
What an innovation! Eighth Day Farm in Holland, Michigan is undertaking an unusual urban farming technique: growing crops in a used strip mall. They plan to replace more than an acre of old, unused blacktop replace fertile soil, and grow a new business on the site. The hope is that, as the farm continues to […]
Brooklyn Grange: The World’s Largest Rooftop Farm
Brooklyn Grange is alive, in the truest sense of the word. This urban organic farm, located in Queens, New York, buzzes with energy from the very moment you step out of the elevator doors and onto the sunbathed rooftop. In 2009, five Brooklyn natives started this commercial enterprise to cultivate and sell fresh produce to […]
Introducing Big Muddy Farm of Omaha, NE
Big Muddy Urban Farm is a small-scale farm located within the city limits of Omaha, Nebraska. In Winter 2011 we met, formed our collective, wrote and signed our Partnership Agreement and started Big Muddy Urban Farm. For our first season we are offering a 25-member CSA program, selling at three local farmer’s markets, hosting free […]
Bootstrap @ City Grown Seattle – Introduction
I’m Becky Warner from Seattle Washington, and my farm is called City Grown Seattle. City Grown is a multi-plot urban farm. We are growing vegetables on a quarter acre (10,000 square feet) of growing space within northwest Seattle. Our land is distributed among 8 different plots, of which 7 are in the yards of private […]
Filmmaker Dan Susman on Filming the Urban Agriculture Revolution
I’m from farm country. Well, sort of. I grew up outside of Omaha, Nebraska in a little town called Elkhorn. We had a big yellow house with two towering maples out front, an old barn, and a couple acres of land. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t farmers—although my parents showed me at a very […]
Occupy the Farm Fights Back for Urban Agriculture in the East Bay
This Earth Day, April 22, a Bay-area coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists called Occupy The Farm began an action protesting the loss of farmland and agricultural education in the East Bay. The group planted over 10,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil […]