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farming

Can I Grow Here? Helping Urban and Innovative Growers Navigate Local Policies

When farming in urban environments, whether in-ground or using innovative production, one of the biggest challenges can be navigating local statutes, zoning, permitting and land use regulations. For growers, understanding legal access to land and water, as well as local policies is critical.

Happy Compromise Farm: Nourishing Their Community, Body and Soul

Happy Compromise Farm + Sanctuary grows nutritious food for their local community distributed through a “free farm stand.” Though surrounded by farms in the rural Southern Tier of New York, the area is a food desert with a 16% poverty rate, a condition that often leads to higher risk for chronic health conditions and limited healthcare.

Urban Agriculture Grant Brings Together Diverse Urban Farms in Boston

Boston’s urban agriculture community is a diverse group of farmers and community advocates, and their needs are as varied as the types of operations they run and the populations they serve. In 2021, the City of Boston’s GrowBoston initiative received a $200,000 Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grant (UAIP) to engage community members to develop priorities and recommendations in key food security neighborhoods and strengthen the city’s urban agriculture policy.

Black History Month 2021: Agriculture, Family and the Land

Every February, the APHIS community celebrates Black History Month and honors the many and varied contributions of African Americans to U.S. history. This year’s Black History Month theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity.” This feature, a personal narrative by APHIS employee Langston Hull, is the first in a two-part series recognizing Black employees at APHIS and their connection to agriculture, family, and the land.