Dig Deep Farms, founded by the Alameda County Sheriffs Department a decade ago, is dramatically expanding its work to improve food access and job training. But it also has to overcome mixed feelings about law enforcement.
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Urban Farms: Growing Food and Community
Urban farms have become one answer to food deserts. But the schools, community groups, neighborhoods — even a police department! — growing food in the city are finding many other benefits. .
A new wave of middle- and high schools around the country are embracing hydroponic farming. Advances in technology coupled with steady decreases in price make hydroponics an appealing interdisciplinary teaching tool—as well as a way to produce fresh, healthy food for students in the cafeteria and their broader communities.
The Rooftop Medicine Farm — part of the larger nonprofit Deep Medicine Circle — is an urban farm that is working to address food insecurity in Oakland. The farm also functions as a center for learning about healthy foods and urban farming.
The disparity of Black neighborhoods lacking supermarkets has been coined as “supermarket redlining,” when chain markets refuse to plant stores in impoverished communities or relocate existing stores to wealthier areas. The Metro Atlanta Urban Farm is one of many farms across the country working to provide equitable access to nutritional produce.
As food insecurity racks Richmond’s low-income communities, farmers have become one of the residents’ saving grace. Urban Tilth, a Richmond-based farm, is dedicated to providing fresh produce to the local community.
A movement to use land for productive gardening will help communities support themselves in Seattle. The city has invested in programs to increase food security and expand garden access. These include a partnership with City Fruit; youth gardening education programs; and farms like Rainier Beach Farm and Wetlands and Marra Farm.
