Urban Agriculture and Tallahassee

     It wasn't until my second semester Freshman year that I discovered the urban farm niche of Tallahassee. In a city that seems relatively cold at times with its strips of bars, gas stations, and traffic,it was hard to believe that there are hidden enclaves of organic food scattered throughout town. A friend and  I had recently hear of the Damayan Garden Project tucked next to Lichgate park an decided to check it out. As much as I enjoyed playing in the dirt and trying the different herbs, it was the community involvement that I found most enamoring. They used the garden as a tool to teach kids self-dependency and nutrition. 

     Later on I did a project for my Intro to Urban Planning class on iGrow in Frenchtown. Even though we just dropped by unannounced to check it out, the volunteers and garden managers were incredibly open to talking about the work they do, the kids they work with, and the awesome food they harvest. Not only do they offer a safe, educational outlet for the neighborhood kids to spend their afternoons, but they spread the excess vegetables around the area to surrounding neighbors. In our last class we mentioned how one of the motivations for small, locally based markets to offer fresh produce is because they feel that it is needed in the community. In a way, this reminds me a lot of iGrow's incentives for offering these resources to people who may find themselves in a food desert deprived of fresh vegetables. 

     Efforts to tighten restrictions on CAFOs like those mentioned in the Tom Daniels' article as well as the surfacing of issues associated with mass agriculture in general seems to have pushed people to take matters into their own hands and create their own food sources without having to worry that there is too much or too little regulation.  However, how wide spread can this movement grow when, like the NRC article explains, there is such an incredibly high demand for all kinds of crops. This seems too far out of an urban farmer's hands, especially without the pragmatic cooperation of the city's urban planners. Acquiring the land for preservation and perhaps eventual food use seems to be an option for cities to create a green space as well as incorporating urban agriculture into the landscape. Although iGrow, Ripe City, Damayan, and other agriculture plots may not be equipped to supply everyone in the entire city, they still function as an integral part of our communities and need zoning and regulations that support their efforts.