A citizen eater is engaged in food systems, active in pushing policy forward, and focused on building policies where everyone is nourished and can access and afford healthful food. So many of the local food system wins we’re tracking at Food Tank are made possible thanks to tireless advocates working in the communities where they live.

Just as one example, let’s highlight the city of Atlanta—where we’ll be next week for a Summit on Sunday, April 14, starting at 1:30PM, in partnership with Emory University and Spelman College and in consultation with the CDC Foundation, in support of the Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. And please feel free to forward this message to your networks in Atlanta! It’ll be an unforgettable afternoon.

There, many leaders and organizations are working hard to support local food producers and food economies, provide educational resources and agricultural training, and—at the heart of it all—make sure their neighbors are nourished.

Open Hand Atlanta, for example, delivers meals free of charge to folks in Atlanta and around the state with the goal of eliminating diet-related chronic illnesses, and they operate a teaching kitchen to offer nutrition support. Mariposas Rebeldes focuses on building access to ecology and community gardening for queer folks, and The Grocery Spot exemplifies a sustainable, community-first model for a nonprofit grocery store.

There are many inspiring organizations working across Atlanta, so I hope you’ll read the full list HERE. So many citizen eaters, stepping up as changemakers!

The Acres of Ancestry Initiative and Black Agrarian Fund work to restore land ownership by boosting food and fiber economies across the South and connecting people with financial resources through the Black Belt Justice Center—and Tracy Lloyd McCurty, the center’s Executive Director, will be at our Summit.

Wholesome Wave Georgia works to increase access to nutritious food options and help folks enroll in assistance programs—and Will Sellers, their Executive Director, will be at our Summit. Save Our Legacy Ourself, or SOLO, works to uplift heirloom crops and preserve the heritage of the Saltwater Geechee people—and Maurice Bailey, the organization’s President, will be at our Summit. Diversity Dietetics fosters collaborations to build a more diverse field of nutritionists and dietitians—and the Co-Founder and Executive Director, Tamara Melton, RDN, will be at our Summit.

And many of the most amazing food system leaders, farmers, researchers, scientists, journalists, lawmakers, food bank leaders, and others are joining us at the Empowering Eaters Summit next Sunday, April 14.

I hope you’ll join us, too. The event is completely free and open to the public, whether in-person or via livestream! So please CLICK HERE to secure your spot at the event.

Here’s a partial list of speakers, which you definitely won’t want to miss: Maurice Bailey, SOLO; Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appétit Management Company; Ravi Bellamkonda, Emory University; Kelliann Blazek, Special Assistant to the President for Agriculture and Rural Policy; Caree Cotwright, USDA; Andre Dickens, Mayor, City of Atlanta (via video); Rachel Ferencik, CDC Foundation; Diane Harris, Centers for Disease Control; Dr. Nik Heynen, University of Georgia; Kevin Holt, H&H Hospitality ; Dr. Kimberly Jackson, Spelman College; Steven Jennings, Ahold Delhaize USA; Sabrina Li, Emory University; Tracy Lloyd McCurty, Black Belt Justice Center; U.S. Congresswoman Lucy McBath (GA-07); Will McIntee, The White House; Beth McKibben, RoughDraft Atlanta; Tamara S. Melton, Diversify Dietetics; Alastair Pullen, Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School; Karuna Rawal, Nature’s Fynd; Tambra Raye Stevenson, Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture (WANDA); Rose Scott, NPR-Atlanta; Pamela Scott-Johnson, Spelman College; Kashi Sehgal, Rataaza; Will Sellers, Wholesome Wave Georgia; Arthur Tripp, USDA Farm Service Agency; Kyle Waide, The Atlanta Community Food Bank; and Raphaela Ysrael, Atlanta Harvest, and many more!  More info is HERE.

We will also have breakout sessions, where discussions will inform a policy report submitted directly to the White House, and an amazing reception with our food and beverage partners.

As I mentioned: Progress in the food system comes down to empowering eaters, today and for generations to come.

That idea is at the core of discussions at the Summit around food and land justice, healthier school foods, food is medicine, procurement and business solutions, student best practices, and so much more.

HERE’s that registration link, so we know you’ll be joining us.

I look forward to seeing you next weekend! And, as always, my inbox at danielle@foodtank.com is open to Food Tankers around the world—send me the questions and concerns on your mind, and let’s keep the conversation going.

One last note: What’s amazing about the food movement is that every city in the world has so many amazing projects we can learn from! This week, we highlighted these fantastic 20 organizations just in and around Atlanta, including Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund; Atlanta Community Food Bank; Community Farmers Markets (CFM); Diversity Dietetics; Friends of the Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill; Food Well Alliance; Georgia Foundation for Agriculture; Georgia Organics; Giving Kitchen; Global Growers Network (GGN); Mariposas Rebeldes; Open Hand Atlanta; Recovery Eco Agriculture Project; Save Our Legacy Ourself (SOLO); Slow Food Atlanta; The Common Market; The Grocery Spot; Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture (TLW); Umi Feeds; and Wholesome Wave Georgia. I hope you’ll read more HERE about the many best practices and replicable models in Atlanta.

And at the same time, I hope you’ll find some organizations carrying out these best practices in your community! We can’t take these local organizations for granted—it was not always the case that our cities had thriving food networks, so let’s celebrate empowered eaters!

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske, Unsplash

The post Progress in The Food System Means Empowering Eaters—Today and for Generations to Come appeared first on Food Tank.

Here’s a trivia question:

Where are the most important transformations in the food system taking place right now?

a. The United Nations headquarters

b. In the U.S. Congress

c. At a high-level dialogue in Europe or the Middle East

d. Within a few miles of where you’re reading this letter

If you answered (d), you’re correct!

When we talk about food system transformation, we’re not talking about a sudden metamorphosis in some far-off place at some indeterminate point in the future.

Rebuilding the food system in a more resilient, sustainable, equitable way is happening right now, as we speak, in neighborhoods and cities across the world.

And it’s not like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or a tadpole becoming a frog. It’s a gradual process—sometimes it can feel slow, as many of us probably know!—that moves forward sometimes in big leaps but much more often in small steps.

But because of tireless advocates at the local level, we are indeed moving forward. Every step forward is a win: a win for producers, a win for eaters, a win for the planet.

And as Food Tankers know, we don’t just do this work for ourselves. A stronger, more just food system is vital toward nourishing future generations too, which is what we’ll be discussing at our next Summit in a couple weeks.

When I look out at the state of the food system, I see so much that’s going well.

Just take food waste, for example. Last year, the city of Chicago launched a composting program that allows residents to drop off food scraps at 15 locations around the city, where they’re collected and turned into compost for soil. And in Maryland, where I live, policymakers created a food residual diversion law in 2021, which requires any company, store, school, organization, or agency that handles food and is located within 30 miles of a compost facility to divert food scraps away from landfills.

Or look at school meals. Maine and California passed laws in 2021 that guaranteed free lunches for all school students, and several other states including Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Connecticut, and Vermont have also done so since then.

And that’s just the beginning! Here are some other food policy wins we’re tracking on the local level around the country:

Minimum wage protections are being strengthened. In Chicago, the subminimum wage for tipped workers is being phased out following city council action last year, so employees including many food service workers will eventually be paid the standard hourly minimum wage rather than significantly less. First-of-its-kind legislation in New York City last year increased the minimum wage for app-based delivery workers, and in California, effective next month, the minimum wage will be raised to $20 for fast food workers at large franchises. Plus, the state created a Fast Food Council with workers, union members, and companies to set standards for workplace safety and wages.

Small-scale food producers are getting the rights they’re due. In Arkansas, a variety of laws passed in 2021 allow for homegrown or homemade food and drink to be sold at farmers markets, farm stands, homes, and even online to help boost local economies. A program called New Mexico Grown helps schools, educational institutions, and organizations serving elderly populations in that state to source food from local producers. And in Nevada, a 2023 law expands sidewalk vendors’ rights to sell food on the street.

Urban agriculture is getting official. In Detroit, the mayor appointed Tepfirah Rushdan as the city’s first Director of Urban Agriculture last fall to encourage and support urban farmers and streamline the use of abandoned lots as farms and gardens. And a couple years ago in Boston, mayor Michelle Wu created GrowBoston, the city’s office of urban agriculture, to work alongside the Mayor’s Office of Food Justice to fund and develop urban ag projects.

States are hearing the needs of rural communities, too. In Colorado, the Consumer Right to Repair Agriculture Equipment Act, which went into effect in January, means that owners of agricultural equipment can repair their machinery independently, rather than being required to go through the manufacturer. And in Missouri, a broad ag law signed last summer includes tax credits for farmers who help new farmers get started, plus programs to boost flood resilience along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

As I mentioned, the list goes on. Recent laws passed in Colorado and Rhode Island limit the sale and use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which harm bees and other pollinators. The city council of Perris, California, recently passed an ordinance that requires grocery stores in the city to stock healthy food and drink items at check-out counters instead of junk food, following the lead of Berkeley’s similar 2020 regulation.

Municipal food policy councils and neighborhood advocates are making even more advances toward a better food system, too. At the end of the day, progress in the food system comes down to empowering eaters, today and for generations to come.

So I hope you’ll click HERE to grab your spot at our upcoming Summit in partnership with Emory University and Spelman College—in person or via livestream on Sunday, April 14—where we’ll all be inspired by 35+ amazing speakers discussing how food policy can build accessibility and affordability in the food system.

And I hope, too, that you’ll commit to creating more food policy wins in your communities! Again, transforming the food system is not a one-and-done process, nor is it one that only takes place in Capitol buildings and meeting rooms. Building a better food system requires effort from all of us—right where we live.

Let’s chat about how to make that happen. Email me at danielle@foodtank.com to share what’s going well where you live, and let me know how I can connect you with Food Tank’s resources to boost your efforts.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske, Unsplash

The post Where Are You Reading This? That’s Where Food System Transformation Is Happening appeared first on Food Tank.

“We’re able to provide such high-quality produce that anybody can shop,” Javier Guerrero, President and CEO of Coastal Roots Farm, one of the first farms to open a pay-what-you-can initiative, tells Food Tank.

Coastal Roots Farm, located in Encinitas, California, operates as a normal farm stand or supermarket, where consumers can shop for produce of their choice. At the point of payment, their private check-out system allows shoppers to view their total bill and choose the portion they can comfortably and willingly pay. Their market offers up to US$30 off produce at no-cost to those who need it.

“Those that can pay, pay. Those that need to deduct, deduct. Some people might donate,” Guerrero says.

Guerrero emphasizes that the market promotes the same shopping experience for people from all different walks of life, whether they can pay for any, all, or more than their total cost of produce. He says the customers who are paying the full fare, or even donating a little more, know they may be helping someone who is shopping right next to them and needs that support.

Last year, Coastal Roots Farm grew 86,000 pounds of food and fed 45,000 people, according to Guerrero. Between 70 -75 percent of what they grew is donated to the community, both through the farm stand or other initiatives.

Coastal Roots Farm has also inspired several other pay-what-you-can farm stands across the nation. Common Good City Farm, located in Washington D.C., launched their first pay-what-you-can initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The question that we asked ourselves was how do we create a market where everyone can still shop for whatever they want, and that their ability to pay for that doesn’t impact their ability to shop,” Samantha Trumbull, Executive Director of Common Good City Farm, tells Food Tank.

Common Good City Farm is located in Ward 1, which houses over one tenth of the total D.C. population, according to DC Health Matters. They report that 20 percent of all households in Ward 1 earn less than US$49,999 annually. On average, white households earn twice that. Common Good City Farm’s pay-what-you-can model intends to respond to this inequality.

Trumbull explains that Common Good City Farm initially aimed to create a system that allowed people to pay a discounted price or pay nothing, while also encouraging those who can to pay more.

While the farm stand successfully increased access and reduced socio-economic stigma, she says they still find some community members are hesitant to shop when they can’t make any payment.

“It is our constant job to work on the way we communicate this to people,” Trumbull tells Food Tank. But through conducting demographic surveys on site, the Farm has found that people who can afford to pay more or donate are not nearly meeting the level that they had hoped and encouraged.

“People do tip and do pay extra to support the program, but not nearly at the level that we wanted to encourage them to,” Trumbull says. “We really think there are plenty of people in our community who can pay 200 percent of the suggested price, and no one is doing that.”

Trumbull and Common Good City Farm anticipated that the higher income group would help subsidize those with lower incomes. Yet, they were surprised to find that reciprocity was most prevalent among their middle-income shoppers.

This pay-what-you-can model has also been used at Groundwork Farms and Sprout City Farms in Denver, Colorado to ensure fresh produce is affordable and available for all of their community members. EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, Missouri also debuted a pay-what-you-can drive-thru farm stand in response to the pandemic; the farm’s success with this model inspired them to employ it at their farmers’ market booth and develop a physical on-farm stand.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 12.8 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2022, a significantly higher rate than the 10.2 percent in 2021. “Food insecurity has not gone away in San Diego [county] as it hasn’t with many parts of the country,” Guerrero tells Food Tank. “With the costs of inflation and the costs of everything, really, people shouldn’t have to question their ability to eat well and stay healthy.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo Courtesy of Melissa Askew, Unsplash

The post Pay-What-You-Can Farm Stands Flourish Amidst Soaring Food Insecurity and Inflation in the U.S. appeared first on Food Tank.

BUGs has hosted their national Conference—the largest of its kind dedicated to Black agriculture—since 2010, but this is the first time the organizers are bringing the event to Philadelphia. They hope the conference will offer an opportunity to explore the history of Philadelphia’s urban agriculture community.

“Philadelphia has such a deep-rooted agricultural history. It was an honor to work alongside local urban farmers here in Philadelphia to help bring the BUGS conference to the city of brotherly love,” says Karen Washington, Co-Founder of the BUGs National Conference. “We look forward to paying homage to the city’s rich agricultural past and helping to sow the seeds for a more just and equitable urban farming future.”

The Conference will provide engaging and informative sessions including keynote speeches by renowned speakers, urban farm tours, social events, and over 50 workshops covering a diverse range of topics such as soil health, financial literacy, intro to hydroponics, and more.

Ash Richards, Director of Urban Agriculture for the City of Philadelphia, says, “There is a deep gratitude for the space that the BUGS Conference provides to gather folks together who believe in growing food and land stewardship as essential components to community cohesion and resilience.”

And Regina Ginyard, Co-Founder of the BUGs National Conference, expresses her excitement, saying, “We look forward to showcasing Philadelphia’s urban farming movement and celebrating the profound influence of Philadelphia’s Black agrarian culture and leadership.”

For more details about the event and to purchase tickets, click HERE.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Massimo Catarinella, Wikimedia Commons

The post Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners (BUGs) National Conference Comes to Philadelphia appeared first on Food Tank.

The Community Food Navigator is an in-person and online hub that allows for the sharing of knowledge, resources, and connections. The Navigator was created in 2020, when “these different silos were forming, with different people doing the work of feeding people in an emergency time,” Sydney Coyle, the Communications and Engagement Manager at Community Food Navigator tells Food Tank.

Coyle explains that some of these silos were in contact with one another. However, there was a clear need for a central hub where “growers, producers, educators, and eaters” could connect and collectively create a food system rooted in justice and sovereignty. For the Community Food Navigator, this means that the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control its production, distribution, and governance.

The Navigator’s app is helping them achieve this goal. Through this tool, people share locations and information about urban farms and gardens; job, mentorship, and volunteering opportunities related to urban agriculture; information on buying and selling agricultural goods; and much more.

Through the Navigator, “We’ve seen the transformation of vacant lots into places where healthy food grows, where soil is nurtured, where education happens, where jobs are created, and the community thrives as a result. We’re taking the matter of feeding ourselves into our own hands,” Ticina Williams tells Food Tank.

Williams is one of the Community Food Navigator’s most active participants. She is the manager at a farmer’s market, and through the Navigator’s app, uses her expertise to provide critical resources to her neighbors looking to take control of their own food system.

While the pandemic catalyzed the Navigator, there has always been a need for a central hub of knowledge about healthy food options for Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities in Chicago.

In the city, one out of six residents is at risk of being food insecure, according to the 2023 Chicago Food Equity Council Annual Report. But in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods on the South and West sides, food insecurity affects 56 to 85 percent of the population. In some neighborhoods, the percentage of residents with “low food access” as defined by the Chicago Health Atlas is as high as 99.85 percent.

“I live in Washington Park. We don’t have a grocery store, but we have about 5 liquor stores. If I want to get anything healthy, I have to go several miles west,” Williams tells Food Tank.

“And it’s not that we don’t care about our health, it’s that it was designed to be that way to make it difficult for us,” Williams continues. Chicago is the third largest city in the U.S., and the fourth most segregated according to Berkley’s Othering and Belonging Institute.

In the 20^th century, “neighborhoods were given grades A-D, and the undesirable neighborhoods are where Black and Brown people were forced to live. These well documented discriminatory policies and practices have made it hard for Black and Brown individuals to secure land, capital, and other environmental resources needed to grow food,” Lisa Tallman, the Navigators’s Executive Director tells Food Tank.

Tallman says redlining is “often talked about in terms of housing, but it feeds into urban agriculture too. Because [Black and Brown people] are now in neighborhoods where industrial activity has devastated the soil, and where disinvestment in infrastructure has limited access to water.”

But those behind the Community Food Navigator choose to focus on abundance rather than scarcity. “The focus should not be oh we’re lacking, we don’t have, we’re a desert. Well, that may be true, but we have other systems that provide food to the community,” Williams tells Food Tank.

“Chicago is on the forefront of urban agriculture nationally,” Tallman tells Food Tank. It is through the Navigator that “we want to tell these stories. Of agricultural innovations, of traditions kept alive by Black urban farmers, of community care.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Davon Clark

The post Community Food Navigator Leading The Way Toward Food Sovereignty in Chicago appeared first on Food Tank.

Since the Garden Patch’s establishment in 2010, it has produced nearly 90,718 kilograms of food. “Ninety-five percent of what we produce at the Garden Patch goes to support our Emergency Food Hamper Program in Client Services,” Graham Goff, Garden Patch Project Manager, tells Food Tank.

The Garden Patch not only provides fresh produce for clients, but it also supports the SFBLC’s Nutrition Program and Educational Workshops. These activities include cooking classes, ingredient kit distribution, and school visits. Additionally, those entering or re-entering the workforce can participate in the Work Experience Program, which is designed to enhance job skills, provide coaching, and decrease barriers to employment.

Food Banks Canada’s Hunger Count 2021 Report finds that food bank visits have increased by over 20 percent since 2019. Those located in larger urban centers, like Saskatoon, were more likely to see massive increases in need. Visits to 28 percent of food banks in Canadian urban centers more than doubled. In the face of these challenges, food banks have demonstrated enormous adaptability to shifting needs.

Establishing urban gardens is one adaptive service for food bank customers. Renee Kee, Head of Nutrition Education at Capital Area Food Bank, says urban gardens generally do not contribute enough food to sustain food banks by themselves. But they have the potential to strengthen food banks and pantries’ missions, forge stronger community ties, and create opportunities to broaden approaches addressing food insecurity.

The Garden Patch is working to achieve all of these goals for the Saskatoon community. And the SROI study from the University of Saskatchewan concludes that the program is doing so sustainably. The authors estimate that for every CA$1 invested in the Garden Patch, there is a CA$1.61 of social value returned. The social, environmental, and economic benefits of the program outweigh the costs.

Wanda Martin is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of the study. She tells Food Tank there are three key areas for urban farming sustainability. The farm should reduce the effects of climate change by minimizing food waste and feeding more people with that food. It should also promote employment with job training opportunities. And the urban farm should produce value-added food for the people who can afford it.

“You have to create some sort of self-sufficiency within the system,” Martin says. This circularity is what allows projects like the Garden Patch to maximize social returns from minimal input costs.

The Garden Patch strives to accomplish this by involving the whole Saskatoon community. “Countless people have attended workshops, volunteered, or taken part in the education programs we offer,” Goff tells Food Tank.

“So much of what we hope to do at the Garden Patch is demonstrate what can be done with urban agriculture, and hold open a space where people can come and take part in it,” Goff tells Food Tank.

The study views SROI as a tool for social and nonprofit organizations to justify their existence to donors and the community. For the Garden Patch, the authors argue that its SROI results are critical to demonstrate its value as a form of sustainable community development.

“I think the origins of the Garden Patch are perhaps the most important to take note of for those hoping to do something similar in their community,” Goff tells Food Tank. “A very small group of dedicated people were able to plant the seeds of this project that has blossomed to what it is today.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hanna, Unsplash

The post Study Finds Saskatchewan’s Garden Patch Urban Garden a Success appeared first on Food Tank.

Over 90 percent of food consumed in Singapore is imported, according to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). And with multiple competing land needs, just 1 percent of Singapore’s land is set aside for agriculture, Poh Bee Ling, Director of SFA’s Urban Food Solutions Division, tells Food Tank.

To reduce dependency on other countries and ensure food security, the SFA works to diversify food sources and promote local production. “We are working with our local agri-food industry to achieve our ‘30 by 30’ goal, which is to build our capability and capacity to produce 30 percent of our nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030,” Poh says.

At the production end of the supply chain, the SFA provides funding to support local productivity and the adoption of technology. Poh says that with the SFA’s support, farmers can build their capacities to achieve the agency’s vision of a high-tech, innovative, and sustainable agricultural system that efficiently uses Singapore’s limited land resources.

Hydroponic farming can be an important way for Singapore to produce food. “This is important in land-scarce Singapore as vegetable farms using hydroponics could be set up in spaces such as on rooftops or inside buildings,” Poh says. She adds that the approach allows growers to optimize environmental conditions to improve yields, quality, or taste. “This can translate to cost-effective, quality-assured products that can be sustainably grown in the long run.”

But Poh admits to one major drawback to hydroponic farming. Some systems, she explains, use non-recyclable polyurethane cubes to support plants during the growth process. Producers are looking for alternative, sustainable substrates that also do not incur additional input costs. Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are working on a solution to address this challenge: keratin sponges.

Dr. Ng Kee Woei, Professor and Associate Chair of Research at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at NTU, realized that many materials currently utilized in hydroponic farming are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. “And to top it off, they are innate materials, meaning they do not supply any nutrients on their own to the plants,” Ng tells Food Tank.

The NTU research team successfully incorporated cellulose from plant waste with keratin extracts to make a sponge that feeds hydroponic plants. Keratin can be derived from a number of biowaste sources, including hair, hooves, feathers, wool, and horns. These materials are valuable as a sustainable, consumable input found within farming systems themselves.

One study from the University of Bonn cites bioresources, including wastes and renewable raw materials, as potential growing media for soilless systems. Grocery waste compost, biochar, and wood fibers are examples of bioresources that have been used successfully as hydroponic growth substrates.

As a bioresource, keratin is completely biodegradable. “And being proteins, as they degrade, they release amino acids which themselves become part of the nutrient supply for plants,” Ng tells Food Tank.

But scaling this solution in Singapore comes with barriers. “The number one challenge is the lack of supply of keratins,” Ng tells Food Tank. “If you want to commercialize this, you’re going to need to have a manufacturer that can provide us a supply of consistent quality and large quantities of keratins.”

Without an industry for keratin, conventional inputs remain much cheaper. “At this point in time, if we compare costs, we will never be able to match up with the existing sponges that farmers use,” Ng says.

“I do believe that if we do the proper cost-benefit analysis, then we can perhaps look into how much savings the farmer can actually benefit from if they use keratin-based sponges,” Ng tells Food Tank. Looking ahead, Ng says there are also opportunities to customize the sponges for various crops or for different environments.

“By adopting technology and smart farming features, we can build the capacity and capability of our agri-food industry to strengthen Singapore’s food security,” Poh tells Food Tank.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske, Unsplash

The post Upcycling for Hydroponics in Singapore appeared first on Food Tank.

Through the Urban Agriculture Water and Power Infrastructure Grant Program and Fund nonprofits and urban farmers can purchase and install water meters, water pipes, irrigation hoses, electric meters, and any other equipment associated with water supply and irrigation or electric power access.

“There is a desire to engage urban farmers and help meet the food and resource needs of the community,” Maryland State Senator Melony Griffith, a co-sponsor of the Grant Program and Fund. She believes it’s important to equip small-scale farmers with the infrastructure of larger scale farms. Griffith also says the grants will help involve “different residents of our state that hadn’t previously been engaged in agriculture.”

In Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland with a population of more than 600,000, almost one quarter of the population struggles with food insecurity, according to Baltimore County data. Urban farming has expanded in the past decade and the city is now home to 20 urban farms and more than 100 community and school gardens, reports Baltimore City’s Department of Planning. But the high costs and, or lack of access to affordable, safe water in vacant lots have presented barriers to entry for many interested in farming.

Over the last five years, Maryland has taken steps to increase urban agriculture on vacant lots by implementing a 90 percent property tax credit to urban farmers and land leasing initiatives for urban agriculture. The passing of the Urban Agriculture Water and Power Infrastructure Grant Program and Fund represents a step towards achieving Baltimore’s sustainability goals to strengthen and amplify the local food economy.

“For growing operations, we have very hot summers,” Abby Cocke, Environmental Planner for the Baltimore Office of Sustainability tells Food Tank. Cocke says urban farmers are susceptible to “lose whole crop[s] if they are not able to irrigate.” Electrical lines can help supply urban farmers with water, but running a new line “can be expensive,” Cocke says.

Cocke notes that Baltimore has a lot of gardens and farms that are on lots that were previously homes. “Often there is a water service available through the water meter pit in the sidewalk,” she says. But farmers located on lots without water service, or on lots where houses were demolished, are cut off from water service at the main line under the street. “That’s where people run into problems.”

A 2021 study from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future tested the soil and water safety of 74 percent of Baltimore urban gardens. It finds that 89 percent of sites surveyed reported using municipal water as their primary source of irrigation while 14 percent used rainwater. Rainwater harvesting systems can be an effective way to conserve water for agricultural use, but their cost and utility barriers pose limitations to widespread incorporation, according to a report from Baltimore’s Office of Sustainability.

Cocke explains that some urban farmers currently collect rainwater, but urban farm operations require “a lot of water for irrigation.” She adds that some farmers worry about contamination from water collected off building or car roofs. “In terms of supporting existing operations, and helping people have the confidence to start up new operations, knowing that there’s infrastructure support out there will be a big, big help,” Cocke tells Food Tank.

In 2024, the state will have a “sense of how many people or how many entities are able to take advantage of the funds,” Griffith tells Food Tank, “and whether or not more funding is needed, or [if] a tweaking of the legislation might be helpful in order to get people the equipment that’s associated with the water supply, and irrigation and electric power access needs.”

While the grants offer support to urban farmers in Maryland, “land tenure and land security are the biggest issue,” to sustain urban farming operations, according to Cocke. “Funding is definitely a barrier,” but land security can increase long-term access to urban farmland for farmers with “insecure or short-term arrangements.” Cocke hopes the grants “may help spur some of these important conversations about long term land tenure.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Tim Umphreys, Unsplash

The post Maryland Creates Opportunities for Food Insecure Cities appeared first on Food Tank.

The internship accepts up to 15 youth each session who are between the ages of 14 and 18 years old. Sessions run for 12 weeks, during which interns focus on development in four areas: general gardening and soil care, public speaking, financial literacy, and preparing healthy meals with the produce they have grown.

The program is part of the Fruitful Field, a non-profit near Fort Lauderdale that started with the transformation of a small church’s property into an urban garden. The nonprofit runs a buy a share give a share CSA from the garden to help nourish the surrounding community.

Chris Reesor, Co-Founder and Founding Director of GrowCity, saw an opportunity to incorporate youth into the Fruitful Field’s mission and approached their executive director with the idea. The youth program launched in 2015, and Reesor eventually became the Fruitful Field’s next Executive Director. He tells Food Tank that they wanted to provide “the community with a youth program that not only teaches basic soft and hard skills but teaches the importance of giving back to our community.”

GrowCity partners with food banks, shelters, and churches to bring fresh produce from the Fruitful Field to neighborhoods that the interns call home. But garden work is sometimes foreign to youth raised in an urban environment. “In the beginning many are either confused…or dislike the work. That is until they see the impact they have on the community and beyond,” says Reesor. “We not only harvest for our CSA program but we also harvest 30 percent to 50 percent of what we grow [for] families in need and the homeless.”

The GrowCity youth are essential to the community efforts of the Fruitful Field. “We are here to grow, gather, give. Without GrowCity we wouldn’t be able to grow over 10,000 pounds of produce a season,” Reesor tells Food Tank.

The internship can also open future education and employment opportunities for the participating youth. Youth from low-income families face unique barriers to career development. And poverty rates for people under 18 years old are on the rise in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Research shows that the interpersonal skills and overall experience provided by programs like GrowCity can help reduce these barriers.

Reesor’s inspiration for GrowCity came out of his own journey to overcome barriers. He struggled in school because of dyslexia but was not diagnosed until later in life. He found that outdoor environments helped him absorb lessons more easily, and now he uses that setting to help others. “What an amazing way to be introduced to the workforce,” Reesor says. “You learn where food comes from, how to make money and still give back, learn valuable communication skills through public speaking, and eat healthy delicious food!”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of the Fruitful Field

The post GrowCity Gets Youth Work Ready with Urban Gardening appeared first on Food Tank.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Patrick Trefz, the film intertwines Denevan’s personal struggles and turbulent family dynamic with his artistic and culinary journey. The film shows how Denevan approaches the natural world in several ways, creating a body of work that is engaged with and inseparable from the land and the local conditions. As an artist, Denevan’s work conjures the tradition of North American land art. He uses the earth as his canvas, creating massive, temporary geometric formations in sand, ice, and soil.

Denevan’s connection to the natural world extends beyond his artistic practice to the culinary world. In 1999, he founded Outstanding in the Field as an alternative to the conventional dining experience. The pop-up restaurants take place on organic and sustainable farms, vineyards, and gardens around the world. Denevan uses fresh, locally-sourced meals—which serve anywhere from 100 to 1,000 guests—to reconnect diners to the land and to the farmers who feed them.

Through interviews with the artists, chefs, and farmers Denevan collaborates with, the film works to underscore Denevan’s mission to connect people and their food. Ultimately, the film conveys Denevan’s efforts to cultivate community between local farmers, chefs, and diners. To Denevan and Trefz, who met in 2003 in Santa Cruz, California, the ability to feel connected to “the earth and the broader universe” is central to their creative pursuits, Trefz tells Food Tank.

The film also shows that Denevan takes the same approach to each event as he does to his art. Trefz presents viewers with swooping, bird’s-eye-view shots of long dinner tables that stretch across pristine Bermudan beaches, Argentinian vineyards, verdant American farms, and urban rooftop gardens. In doing so, he illustrates that Outstanding in the Field dinners are staged intentionally to reflect nature, with tables arranged in a straight line along a pier, in a crescent-shape in a grassy field, or in a looping circle on a beach.

In the film, William Fox, Museum Director for the Center for Art and Environment, says that Denevan is “making a very intuitive gesture that has to do with the farming situation and his ability to make structure in the landscape.”

Trefz began filming “Man in the Field” in 2013. The most challenging part of filming, Trefz tells Food Tank, was being able to understand and depict Denevan’s psychology and the personal experiences that shaped his work.

Denevan grew up in a family of nine and, at a young age, lost his father to a brain tumor. As he learned to navigate the challenges of mental illness in his family, he found respite in nature and in the act of drawing geometric patterns into the sand on secluded California beaches. Denevan later found the same sense of tranquility and keen attention to detail as a young cook in a local restaurant.

As Trefz documented Denevan’s approach to merging his land-based art with his traveling culinary feast, Outstanding in the Field, Trefz asked himself, “How can someone pull this off?”

“It was an enormous feat just to do one dinner,” Trefz tells Food Tank. In its 22-year history, Outstanding in the Field has reached all 50 U.S. states and 16 countries around the world.

Denevan’s ephemeral land art and locally-sourced outdoor dinners may be temporary interventions. But the film leaves viewers with an understanding of the need for long-lasting collaboration with each other and with the environment.

Trefz tells Food Tank that he hopes the film will serve as a “great message for people to go back to the land, be in touch with organic farming, and get creative themselves.”

Photo courtesy of Brighton Denevan

The post New Film Documents the Life of Artist and Farm-to-Table Pioneer Jim Denevan appeared first on Food Tank.