Urban Agriculture as an Intervention to Food Insecurity in Food Deserts By Daniel Clarke Bachelor of Science in Architecture Candidate Boston Architectural College daniel.clarke@thebac.edu May 15, 2015 The USDA’s Economic Research Service defines food insecurity as a household’s inability to acquire enough food to meet the nutritional needs of all their members due to 1 financial or other resources. Food insecurity is one of many symptoms of living in a food desert. Food Deserts have been defined by the USDA as concentrated geographic areas in which 500 people or more are living more than one mile from the nearest grocery store. Using 2000 and 2006 census data, the USDA estimated 23 million people living in more than 6,500 food 2 deserts in the United States. In urban areas, food deserts primarily exist in communities composed of AfricanAmerican, Latino, and other minority and immigrant populations. They often display high rates of unemployment, lower levels of education and low levels of income. Hunger is a pervasive issue in these communities and the most common food sources are corner stores selling low cost, highly processed items with low nutritional value. Within food deserts, a rising epidemic of nutritional related health issues including childhood obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease exist. Cities have three major interventions to which resources and efforts may be allocated in an effort to rebuild the health and vitality of these communities living in crisis. The first intervention which gets the most attention, is the reintroduction of large retail chain grocery stores back to innercity neighborhoods. The second intervention that receives much attention is the makeover of local corner stores and bodegas; the goal being to establish these existing retail outlets as market places that carry fresh produce and other healthier food choices beyond the typical low cost junk foods that corner stores are synonymous with. The third and least comprehended intervention is urban agriculture and urban farming. 1
“Food Security in the US”, USDA Economic Research Service, accessed May 10, 2015, http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/foodnutritionassistance/foodsecurityintheus/keystatisticsgraphics.aspx 2 Paula Dutko, Michele Ver Ploeg and Tracey Farrigan, “Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts”, USDA Economic Research Report Number 140 , August 2012, accessed May 10, 2015, http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/883903/err140.pdf
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Urban farms are in a position, now more than any other time, to bring measurable change to the urban condition, to reshape food systems and provide accessibility to healthy and fresh food in communities living in food deserts. However, there are many obstacles and challenges to urban farming and their long term success and maximum impact will be largely dependent on the cooperation of municipal governments. Cities must be willing to shift urban strategies and enact policies which favor and incorporate farming into the urban master plan. Federal, state and municipal interventions have primarily focused on establishing new grocery stores in food deserts and making over corner stores that are already established in these neighborhoods. These initiatives have done very little to end food insecurity. The topic took national spotlight in 2010 with the First Lady’s Let’s Move Initiative to combat childhood obesity. As part of the First Lady’s White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) was created as a partnership between the USDA, The United States Department of Treasury and Health and Human Services with the objective of eliminating 3 food deserts nationwide by 2017. The HFFI’s role is to provide financial incentives in the form of tax credits, grants and low cost loans to incentivize supermarkets to locate to food deserts and to help develop and outfit corner stores and farmers markets to sell healthy and affordable food in underserved communities. The premise of this initiative is that increasing access to affordable, nutritious food will lead to healthier food choices in underserved communities and therefore resolve issues of dietary health and food insecurity while eradicating food deserts. On the surface, it seems the obvious solution to the food desert problem; shorten the distance to market by increasing the number of outlets that provide healthy food and the statistical data will change. Seemingly, it is an easy equation to balance, yet , five years later very few large retail grocery stores have opened in America's food deserts and the ones that have, seem not to be doing much to impact the lives of those living in the inner city. th A new study by the NYU Langone Medical Center published in the February 26 2015 online edition of Public Health Nutrition compared the food purchasing patterns between two Bronx neighborhoods, one which had a brand new government subsidized grocery store and the other without. The researchers analyzed over 2,000 street surveys and 363 dietary recalls and concluded that there were no significant food purchasing changes regardless of the availability of 4 healthy food at least one year after the supermarket had opened. Another study evaluating the health impacts in a Philadelphia neighborhood where a new grocery store was established
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“Creating Access to Healthy, Affordable Food” USDA, accessed on May 10, 2015, http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/AccessHealthyFood.pdf 4 Brian Elbel, Alyssa Moran, L Beth Dixon, Kamila Kiszko, Jonathan Cantor, Courtney Abrams and Tod Mijanovich. “Assessment of a governmentsubsidized supermarket in a highneed area on household food availability and children’s dietary intakes”, Public Health Nutrition , available on CJO2015. doi:10.1017/S1368980015000282
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through funding by the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative concluded that, “ the intervention moderately improved residents’ perceptions of food accessibility. However, it did not lead to changes in reported fruit and vegetable intake or body mass index. The effectiveness of interventions to improve physical access to food and reduce obesity by encouraging 5 supermarkets to locate in underserved areas therefore remains unclear.” The Health Education and Behavior Journal published a report of an ongoing study in April of 2015 authored by researchers at the RAND Corporation and University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The report made the assertion that though there is a growing interest among policy makers to respond to “food deserts” by incentivizing the location of full service grocery stores in lowincome underserved communities, there is limited research and data that has evaluated the impact of these efforts. The report is an extensive outline of The Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood Research on Eating, Shopping and Health (PHRESH) design study which is currently evaluating the change in the social and dietary behaviors in the lowincome predominately AfricanAmerican neighborhood of the Hill District of Pittsburgh where a new $8.5 million grocery store opened in the fall of 2013. The study is being conducted in two phases; at baseline and 3 years later. The PHRESH is the largest study in the United States to date that is tracking households and food outlets throughout an extended time period of a changing food environment, namely, where a new large chain grocery store has opened in a food desert. The report emphasizes the importance of the engagement with community in collecting data and purports to be the most extensive research on the topic to date in terms of scope, data collection and monitoring, methodologies and duration. Though the study has not yet concluded, the report suggests that initial findings point out that policy efforts focused on distance to healthy food outlets may be incomplete; that building more supermarkets alone may not be the answer to solving the social, economic and health issues in food deserts and that other efforts may be 6 required at policy level. One conclusion that these studies point to is that people's food choices may have less to do with the distance they must travel to purchase food, but rather more with established eating and buying habits. A grocery store may have received millions of dollars in subsidies to open up in a food desert, but there is no requirement that a grocery store must advertise healthy food explicitly or carry less unhealthy food. Beyond being the recipient of monetary incentives and Steven Cummins , Ellen Flint and Stephen A. Matthews , “New Neighborhood Grocery Store Increased Awareness Of Food Access But Did Not Alter Dietary Habits Or Obesity”, Health Affairs , doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0512Health Aff February 2014 vol. 33 no. 2 283291 6 Tamara Dubowitz, ScD; Collette Ncube, DrPH; Kristin Leuschner, PhD; Shannah TharpGilliam, PhD, “A Natural Experiment Opportunity in Two LowIncome Urban Food Desert Communities; Research Design, Community Engagement Methods, and Baseline Results”, Health Educ Behav., April 2015 vol. 42, Accessed May 10, 2015, doi: 10.1177/1090198115570048 5
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opening it’s doors in a food desert, there is no further obligation of the large retail grocery store. The market place reality is that grocery stores only have about a 2% profit margin on produce 7 and therefore depend on other food products and household items to be profitable. In fact, the grocery store may simply just be providing an increased access to unhealthy foods more than what the corner store is already stocking. There is no requirement that a grocery store or corner store participate or take a proactive role in social advocacy, food education or engaging the community on any meaningful level. A complete intervention in food deserts will not be fulfilled by building new grocery stores or incentivizing corner stores to carry fresh produce and foods. Though these are important measures to consider, it is becoming clear that these programs need to be reevaluated in terms of cost vs. impact. Alternative initiatives need to be considered. Although the nutritional and health crisis that is endemic within food deserts is a major cause for national attention, it is but one aspect of suffering within the communities that are living in food deserts and what is needed are holistic interventions that change lives on multiple scales; initiatives that directly address social, economic and racial inequalities. Interventions and initiatives which truly engage and empower individuals and communities will need to come from within the community and be supported from the outside by advocacy and policy. Urban agriculture has proven to be a model which has accomplished this level of change within communities living in food deserts and as such, it demands more attention from municipal governments. Urban agriculture changes lives; it creates a center of community and empowers people through selfreliance. Urban agriculture is a catalyst for social and economic change and creates opportunities for satellite programs and new initiatives that build community identity and independence. Urban agriculture turns abandoned and trash laden vacant lots into open green spaces which become the bases for education, charity and connectivity. Urban agriculture reaches further into individual lives and communities in ways that a larger retail grocery store and corner store just simply cannot not. In Philadelphia, PA, a history of community gardens supplanting trash strewn vacant lots throughout lowincome minority neighborhoods reaches back to the 1970’s. More often than not, these vacant lots are owned by the city or tax delinquent owners and the gardeners cultivating the land never had a legal right to its use. In many instances, these community gardens were lost to development when property values rose. In response to this burgeoning situation, The Neighborhood Gardens Association / A Philadelphia Land Trust was created in
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Fruit & Vegetable Markets, The Retail Owners Institute, accessed on May 12,2015, http://retailowner.com/Benchmarks/FoodandBeverageStores/FruitVegetableMarkets
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1986. This land trust has successfully secured more than 30 gardens ranging from single size 8 house lots up to 3.8 acres. In 1989, another grassroots organization emerged in the lowincome AfricanAmerican community of Philadelphia’s West Haddington neighborhood. Founded by Saul “Skip” Wiener, The Urban Tree Connection started as an environmental learning project working with children through the Philadelphia Public School District. The Urban Tree Connection has transformed 29 eyesore, trash ridden vacant lots into a community network of gardens, including a ¾ acre urban farm. The identity of each garden is “tagged” by the neighborhood themselves and these gardens have become the platforms for larger community organization; where the leadership role of Block Captain for each garden space is held by a black woman and voted upon by the larger 9 community. In 2010, Skip went to court on behalf of the UTC and successfully argued under a new state law, the Pennsylvania Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act, for the UTC to become the conservators of an abandoned property in the Haddington neighborhood. The UTC was granted sole conservatorship of a ¾ acre tax delinquent site that had been abandoned for 30 years by a family ownedconstruction business and had become a nuisance to the community; a lot left with seeping 55 gallon oil drums became a dumping ground for stripped down stolen cars and harbored the activities of prostitutes and drug dealers. After a complete cleanup and soil remediation, the site is now a fully operational urban farm providing produce to the UTC’s own subsidized Community Supported Agriculture food distribution program as well 10 as several Farmer’s Markets across Philadelphia. Despite these hard won successes, the use of land for urban agriculture is still a contentious subject in Philadelphia and has not been entirely embraced by the city government; in which the current policy effectively makes every vacant lot developable and the adoption of 11 land for urban agriculture is considered an interim use. In 2007 the city of Philadelphia began a complete overhaul of their zoning laws and in August of 2012 the city council passed the new zoning code which recognized Urban Agriculture as a potential land use. Under the new zoning Philip AckermanLeist, Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems , (Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013), 246 9 Saul “Skip” Wiener, “The Urban Tree Connection” (keynote speaker, AIAS NE Quad Conference, Nourish: Designing to Feed a City, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, April 10, 2015) 10 Kia Gregory, “Under new Pa. law, neighbors control abandoned lot,” The Philadelphia Inquirer , November 4, 2010, accessed May 10, 2015, http://articles.philly.com/20101104/news/24953207_1_wienerconservatorcommunitygroups 11 Local Food Production, Phila.gov , accessed on May 11, 2015, http://www.phila.gov/green/greenworks/equity_LocalFood.html 8
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law, the city offers “Garden Agreements”: a license which permits urban agriculture activities on city owned land, however, this permit may be revoked at any time without notice, leaving the 12 subject of long term use of the land for agriculture an important issue. Concurrently, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority has launched a program called Philly Land Works whose goal is to make the surplus of city owned property more accessible to interested parties through mapping and a streamlined, transparent process of acquisition. The PRA does not necessarily know if a vacant lot is currently being used for urban agricultural activity. Without policy that favors long term use of land for urban farming and preserves existing urban agriculture use, the issues surrounding land insecurity in Philadelphia will persist among lowincome communities and the continued argument between squatting and land stewardship will continue to polarize community against city hall. However, this gap seems to be closing. Continued advocacy pressure from coalition groups has begun to change the dialog and shift the paradigm of urban farming and urban agriculture in Philadelphia. In April of 2015, after several years of work, The Urban Tree Connection finally secured a five year lease on a three acre parcel of land from the city. This site will become the second urban farm that the UTC operates and is the first urban farm lease granted under the new zoning law in Philadelphia and comes with the potential for a renewal of 13 the lease after the initial five year lease expires. This helps create a pathway for preservation 14 language for long term leasing of existent urban agricultural activity in Philadelphia. Advocates of urban agriculture still have more work to do in Philadelphia. A garden map of Philadelphia is published on the front page of groundedinphilly.org. This map identifies over 40,000 vacant parcels, both privately and city owned, and identifies over 800 lots that are currently being used as community gardens. Grounded in Philly is the website of Soil Generation, a city wide coalition of urban agriculture and affordable housing constituents. They seek to streamline the process of making land accessible and establish long term preservation of urban agriculture in Philadelphia, especially for all the existing gardens. The long term goals of Soil Generation are to include urban agriculture as a mandate in strategic planning and establish 15 affordable soil testing for new urban agriculture development. Get permission to use the land from the PRA, Public Property, or PHDC, Grounded in Philly , accessed on May 10, 2015, http://www.groundedinphilly.org/pathways/getpermissionuselandPhillyLandWorks/ 12
“ IT’S OFFICIAL…A LEASE FOR MERION AVENUE!”, The Urban Tree Connection Blog , April 20, 2015, accessed on May 10, 2015, http://utcnfoods.com/2015/04/20/itsofficialaleaseformerionavenue/ 14 Amy Laura Cahn, “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015) 15 Amy Laura Cahn, “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015) 13
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In Boston, the lowincome communities of color in Roxbury and Dorchester have set the pace for selfdetermination and community revitalization by turning inwards to solve the issues of food insecurity in the face economic and racial inequality. The Alternative’s for Community and Environment is a constituent led organization based in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The platform statement of their youth led program, Grow or Die, states as follows, “ Companies manipulate us into eating foods that lead to illness and death. All we have is corner stores, liquor stores, and fast food restaurants. As a result, we have higher rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. The food system we know is rooted in racism, poverty, and 16 corporate greed. Food should be about life, growth, health, community, and justice.” The Grow or Die campaign has been taking over vacant lots and building raised garden beds to grow 17 produce throughout Roxbury and Dorchester. The Alternative‘s for Community and Environment is but one community organization amongst a thriving and active coalition of nonprofit and forprofit entities working towards a shared vision of a new community economy in the south Boston neighborhoods. The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), a community governed nonprofit, is at the center of this network. What has emerged from this collaborative is an expanding model of innovation and 18 selfreliance that is building a “new local food economy” centered on urban farming. In these neighborhoods, land is being procured through the Dudley Neighbor’s Inc. land trust which was started in the 1980’s by DSNI to secure vacant and blighted parcels of land for the development of affordable housing. Through the DNI, land is now being secured for urban farming and greenhouses. The Food Project is a youth program which is also an integral operator within the DSNI network. The Food Project operates the DNSI’s 10,000 sq ft Dudley Greenhouse and also grows food on two small plots of urban farm land, also owned by the DNSI. The food that is harvested by the Food Project is distributed to local hunger relief programs and sold at the 19 Dudley Square Farmers Market. Another entity operating within the DNSI community collaborative is City Growers, a forprofit urban farm which is growing on several small plots of land throughout the Roxbury and Dorchester Neighborhoods. City Growers works closely with another affiliate, the Urban Farming Institute of Boston, a nonprofit operating in the same ”REEP's food justice campaign!, ” Alternatives for Community and Environment , accessed on May 10, 2015, http://www.aceej.org/reep/growordie 17 Penn Loh and Glynn Lloyd , “ The Emerging Just and Sustainable Food Economy in Boston”, Practical Visionaries , accessed on May 10, 2015, https://pennloh.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/theemergingjustandsustainablefoodeconomyinboston/ 18 Penn Loh and Glynn Lloyd, “The Emerging Just and Sustainable Food Economy in Boston”, Practical Visionaries , accessed on May 10, 2015, https://pennloh.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/theemergingjustandsustainablefoodeconomyinboston/ 19 “What We Do”, The Food Project , accessed on May 10, 2015, http://thefoodproject.org/whatwedo 16
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neighborhoods. The Urban Farming Institute of Boston was founded in 2012 with the mission of expanding farming through a farmer training program, new farm creation initiatives, public education and policy change. The UFIB graduated seven farmers from its training program last 20 year, four of them are now apprenticing at City Growers. The collective goal is to train new farmers, acquire new land for farming and build a coop between the farmers they train, 21 ultimately bringing farming and community closer together. The Urban Farming Institute was instrumental in helping to create and pass Article 89, the zoning law that legalized urban farming in Boston. Before the passing of Article 89, urban farming in Boston required special permitting through the Zoning Board of Appeals. In many 22 cases, urban farming existed under the radar. Understanding the urgent need to address issues of food insecurity in Boston, Mayor Menino implemented the Office of Food Initiatives in June of 2010 with a mission to increase access to fresh and local food and increase the capacity to 23 grow and distribute local food through urban agriculture. The Food Initiatives personnel began work alongside The Trust for Public Lands and master’s students in the Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program. The public was engaged through direct door to door canvassing, public meetings were held and interviews were conducted with key stakeholders. A complete inventory of all vacant parcels was made and an assessment of suitable agricultural sites was inventoried and mapped.24 The result of this initiative was an in depth report titled “Urban Farming in Boston: A Survey of Opportunities” published by the Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning in May 2013.25 The report identified nearly 100 acres of
Penn Loh, “ How One Boston Neighborhood Stopped Gentrification in Its Tracks”, Yes! Magazine , January 28, 2015, accessed on May 10, 2015, http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/citiesarenow/howonebostonneighborhoodstoppedgentrificationinitstracks 21 Penn Loh and Glynn Lloyd, “The Emerging Just and Sustainable Food Economy in Boston”, Practical Visionaries , accessed on May 10, 2015, https://pennloh.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/theemergingjustandsustainablefoodeconomyinboston 22 Barbara Knecht, R.A., GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm: A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston , unpublished report, April 2015 23 “Directives”, City of Boston , Office of Food Initiatives, accessed on May 10, 2015, http://www.cityofboston.gov/food/ 24 Edith Murnane, “Panel 4B. Designing Cities and Urban Food Production” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015) 25 Denise Chin, Tida Infahsaeng, Ian Jakus, Valerie Oorthuys, “Urban Farming in Boston: A Survey of Opportunities”, (Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning May 2013), accessed on May 10, 2015, http://ase.tufts.edu/uep/degrees/field_project_reports/2013/Team_8_Final_Report_2013.pdf 20
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vacant lots that could be used for farming. In December of 2013 the Boston Restoration Authority (BRA) passed Article 89. The Garrison Trotter Farm (GTF) in Roxbury is the first farm to undergo the approval process under Article 89. The Garrison Trotter Farm is being developed as a partnership between the Trust for Public Land (TPL), the Dudley Neighbors, Inc. (DNI) and the Urban Farming Institute of Boston (UFIB). Under this partnership, TPL secured the land from the City of Boston, raised funds and managed the design and construction of the farm and will transfer 26 ownership to the DNI land trust. The DNI will then lease the farm to UFIB. Though Article 89 made the zoning review process of urban farms favorable, the GTF has been navigating a variety of permitting and regulatory barriers which have driven up costs and delayed the opening of the farm. Final approval still awaits, pending the remediation of unforeseen and existing water and sewer conditions, the responsibility of which has been put on 27 TPL, effecting a significant increase to the cost of developing the Garrison Trotter Farm. Barbara Knecht is a licensed architect with Strategies for Cities in Boston and has been working with the GTF through the review process. She has been documenting the approval process in a yet to be published working narrative titled, “GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm; A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston”. In her conclusion she states, Physical, environmental and social factors attend any urban development and appropriate review and permitting is necessary. What is lacking is coordination among the regulatory entities; the intended flexibility built into the zoning amendment does not extend to other regulators. By creating a new use, it is incumbent on the administrative body (the City of Boston) to examine the attendant regulatory review and permitting process. If the intent is to encourage and facilitate urban farms, then a systematic understanding of how this use differs from other uses (and where it does not) and an evaluation should be made 28 to clear unnecessary barriers and costs and, where appropriate, create incentives.
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Knecht, GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm: A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston 27 Knecht, GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm: A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston 28 Knecht, GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm: A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston
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Boston has positioned itself as a leader in adopting urban farming policy and the hopes are the city will be able to respond to and implement lessons learned throughout the creation of the GarrisonTrotter Farm. There are numerous examples of how urban agriculture and urban farming have transformed communities in cities across America. The primary issue with cities not being proactive and responding in favor to urban agriculture and urban farming is that it leaves open the conflict over land rights. A city policy that allows for urban agriculture reduces the conflict over land use. These policies protect the land use for agriculture by allowing farming activity to operate with minimum conflict. These policies establish a right to farm by law in the city. The vacant lots that are taken over for agriculture are abandoned. Though these lots are often left abandoned for years and decades, it’s hard for city council not to view these lots as potential for future development and tax revenue. When a city adopts policy that embraces urban agriculture, a right to operate the land for food production is established. Without urban agriculture policy in place, the land is technically being squatted from the perspective of the city, landowners and developers. From the perspective of the community, it is land stewardship. Food security equals land security and the acquisition of land is vital to solving the issues of food insecurity.29 Urban land is expensive and difficult to acquire and as part of the solution, state and local policies need to be creative in reducing the cost of obtaining and holding land for urban agriculture. Partnering with land trust initiatives, providing tax breaks and reducing tax assessments to agriculture values instead of market rate values will help cities achieve their goals.30 Many state and municipal governments across the United States have started to establish Urban Agriculture incentives and enact policy, but more needs to be done to make land accessible and developable to those who most need it. Cities need to examine potential barriers such as water accessibility and infrastructure permitting. These costs can be prohibitive, especially for a community immersed in poverty and economic disparity. Cities have the ability to subsidize or establish flat fees for water hook up. Cities can also help with installing and permitting rain collection and other infrastructure. Though this paper primarily focused on urban farming in only two cities, urban agriculture and urban farming have proven to be models of sustainability for lowincome minority communities throughout cities across the United States. Each story is unique yet united in one cause, to assert selfreliance, create food security and build strong community in the face 29
Barbara Knecht, R.A., “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015) 30 Jennifer Rushlow, “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015)
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of social and economic injustice. Urban agriculture has been the springboard for neighborhood redevelopment through youth leadership programs, community outreach and educational programs and has created new economic opportunities for lowincome minority communities. Urban agriculture is arguably the single most important intervention in food deserts. Annotated Bibliography AckermanLeist, Philip. Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems . (Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013), 246 Rebuilding the Foodshed covers a lot of ground from environment, politics, industrialization and social and economic demographics centered around food systems. It was one of the most current books that I found covering the current foodscape in the United States. It provides a wide cross section of examples and stories of local food initiatives and local food systems and makes an emphasis on the importance of local food networks. I believe it to be one of the most important books on the subject of local food systems, food justice and food sovereignty. Alkon, Alison Hope., ed. and Julian Agyeman ., ed. Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability (Food, Health, and the Environment). Boston: MIT Press, 2011. This book specifically focuses on race, class and economic disparities in the current food system. I did not have a copy of this book at the time that I wrote this paper, however, the arguments in this book may be helpful to further develop the arguments for my thesis. Cahn, Amy Laura. “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development.” Discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015. Amy Laura Cahn is a staff attorney and directs the Garden Justice Legal Initiative at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, providing support to Philadelphia's community gardens and market farms, through legal services, policy advocacy, education, and organizing. Groundedinphilly.org is the website of the Garden Justice Legal Initiative. Ms. Cahn, along with Barbara Knecht R.A., and Jennifer Rushlow, hosted the a discussion panel at the 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference titled “Land in the City: Access and Development.” Her part of the discussion panel was the basis and beginning of my research pertaining to urban farming in Philadelphia and the current state of advocacy and policy reform efforts. Chin, Denise, Tida Infahsaeng, Ian Jakus, Valerie Oorthuys. “Urban Farming in Boston: A Survey of Opportunities.” Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. May 2013, accessed on May 10, 2015, http://ase.tufts.edu/uep/degrees/field_project_reports/2013/Team_8_Final_Report_2013.pdf This is the published report that was the outcome of the City of Boston’s Food Initiative and Tufts University analysis of vacant lots and urban farming in Boston. This study specifically matched vacant lots to food deserts and laid the groundwork for Article 89, the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s zoning amendment that legalized urban farming.
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Cummins, Steven , Ellen Flint and Stephen A. Matthews . “New Neighborhood Grocery Store Increased Awareness Of Food Access But Did Not Alter Dietary Habits Or Obesity.” Health Affairs, accessed on May 10, 2015, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0512Health Aff February 2014 vol. 33 no. 2 283291 This report is commonly referenced in many articles and subsequent health reports and studies. It is an important report as it was the first controlled study in the United States evaluating the social impact of a government subsidized grocery store intervention in a food desert. It concluded that, “it is also necessary to consider implementing complementary policies and interventions that might help consumers bridge the gap between improvements in perception and action leading to behavior change.” Desrochers, Pierre and Hiroko Shimizu. The Localvore’s Dilemma . New York: Public Affairs, 2012. This book argues for the superiority of the industrial corporate food system and dismisses the ideas that revolve around environmental stewardship, healthy eating and local food systems. It relegates the “localvore” to the fringe of faddism and paints proponents of local and natural food systems as irrational and illinformed. The author’s arguments are thin and always trump their counterpart with evidence of quantity, dollars and industrial ingenuity. I am sure they must be on the payroll of Monsanto and golf with Bill O’Reilly. Dubowitz, Tamara, ScD; Collette Ncube, DrPH; Kristin Leuschner, PhD; Shannah TharpGilliam, PhD. “A Natural Experiment Opportunity in Two LowIncome Urban Food Desert Communities; Research Design, Community Engagement Methods, and Baseline Results.” Health Educ Behav , April 2015 vol. 42, Accessed May 10, 2015, doi: 10.1177/1090198115570048 The PHRESH study is still ongoing at the time that I write this bibliography. It is the largest study to date analysing the intervention of a grocery store in a food desert and I predict the results will prove to be an important and significant marker in the discussion and reevaluation of using federal dollars to fund the location of large retail grocery stores in food deserts. Dutko, Paula , Michele Ver Ploeg and Tracey Farrigan, “Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts”, USDA Economic Research Report Number 140, August 2012, accessed May 10, 2015, http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/883903/err140.pdf Elbel, Brian, Alyssa Moran, L Beth Dixon, Kamila Kiszko, Jonathan Cantor, Courtney Abrams and Tod Mijanovich. “Assessment of a governmentsubsidized supermarket in a highneed area on household food availability and children’s dietary intakes.” Public Health Nutrition , available on CJO2015. doi:10.1017/S1368980015000282 At the time of writing this report, this study has already been cited by a number of journalist and is furthering the discussion on the lack of effectiveness of spending millions of dollars funding grocery outlets in food deserts. It is important to note the current state of discussion on the topic of food insecurity regarding the federal and state interventions. This is a rapidly shifting subject that deserves more spotlight. Gregory, Kia. “Under new Pa. law, neighbors control abandoned lot.” The Philadelphia Inquirer , November 4, 2010. Accessed May 10, 2015. http://articles.philly.com/20101104/news/24953207_1_wienerconservatorcommunitygroups
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Halweil, Brian. Eat Here. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004. Eat Here take a mile look at the global food industrial complex and the disappearance of the family owned farms in the wake of corporate farming. The book also examines large retail grocers, the national food distribution economy and dedicates and entire chapter to Walmart. The book makes a successful argument for the support and development of local farming and local food systems, I did not directly use any references from this book, though Halweil makes a compelling argument for why we should eat and support local foods. Knecht, Barbara, R.A. “GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm: A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston.” unpublished report, April 2015 Knecht, Barbara, R.A. “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development.” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015) Barbara Knecht, R.A. is a registered architect with Strategies for Cities located in Boston. She has been developing land for public benefit in cities for more than thirty years. In the 1980‘s Ms. Knecht worked for the New York City Mayor’s office and several city agencies where she managed design and development of several thousand units of affordable housing from site selection and land acquisition through occupancy; developed and implemented social service policy initiatives, and coordinated planning projects. In the 1990‘s, she continued her development work in the notforprofit sector, adding research, evaluation and training projects. During the past decade, Barbara was the consulting Director of Design at the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston and the codirector of IHP Cities in the 21st Century . The latter is an international, immersive academic program focused on social, political and development forces that shape cities. She was a copanelist, along with Amy Laura Cahn and Jennifer Rushlow, for “Land in the City: Access and Development” at the 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference. She is working with the Urban Farming Institute of Boston, helping to facilitate the approval of the Garrison Trotter Farm, the first farm to be created under Article 89. She is documenting the creation and approval process of GTF in her unpublished report “GarrisonTrotter Harold Street Urban Farm: A Case Study on the Impact of Zoning Reform on Urban Agriculture in Boston.” Her portion of the discussion panel was the start of my research into land policy and urban farming in Boston. Loh, Penn and Glynn Lloyd . “The Emerging Just and Sustainable Food Economy in Boston.” Practical Visionaries , accessed on May 10, 2015. https://pennloh.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/theemergingjustandsustainablefoodeconomyinboston/ Loh, Penn. “ How One Boston Neighborhood Stopped Gentrification in Its Tracks.” Yes! Magazine , January 28, 2015,accessed on May 10, 2015. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/citiesarenow/howonebostonneighborhoodstoppedgentrificationinit stracks Murnane, Edith. “Panel 4B. Designing Cities and Urban Food Production.” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015)
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Edith Murnane was the First Director of the Food Initiatives of The City of Boston. She now works as consultant and food systems advocate. She was a copanelist for “Designing Cities and Urban Food Production” at the 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference. She outlined the story of the creation of Article 89 involving the partnership with Tufts University, the research and mapping analysis of Boston’s vacant lots for urban farming and the work with community and farmers in south Boston. Her narrative and presentation were very informative and were my first understanding of the extent of groundwork that was done to pass Article 89. Naylor, Rosamond L., ed. The Evolving Sphere of Food Security. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. This book outlines the issues of hunger, poverty and economic inequity surrounding food, water and energy in a global political context, emphasising the connections between governments, corporations and economy. Much of the research comes from the personal work of the authors who have worked in the field of policy advising at local and global levels. Rushlow, Jennifer. “Panel 1D. Land in the City: Access and Development.” (discussion panel, 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, March 28, 2015) Jennifer Rushlow is a Staff Attorney and Director of the Farm & Food Initiative at Conservation Law Foundation (CLF). CLF is a New Englandwide environmental advocacy organization, based in Boston. She was a copanelist, along with Amy Laura Cahn and Barbara Knecht, for “Land in the City: Access and Development” at the 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference. She discussed the topics of zoning, financial incentives and reducing conflict through “Right to Farm” policies. She provided many examples of urban agriculture legislation across the United States. Schanbacher, William D., ed. The Global Food System: Issues and Solutions . Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2014. This book is a collection of essays centered around food sovereignty, racism and discrimination in agriculture and food chains, Agribusiness, the GMO threat to local farmers, and land politics. It outlines a broad context of social issues revolving around food and land on more of a larger scale. No references were used from this book, though it helped put a larger perspective on the social implications that come with the current global food economy. Wiener, Saul “Skip”. “The Urban Tree Connection.” (keynote speaker, AIAS NE Quad Conference, Nourish: Designing to Feed a City, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, April 10, 2015) Skip Wiener holds masters’ degrees in both Science and Landscape Architecture, Mr. Wiener has worked in the public and private sectors as a landscape architect since the 1970s. Skip studied under Ian McHarg at the Landscape and Regional Planning Department at the University of Pennsylvania during the 1970s. Skip was a keynote speaker at “Nourish:Designing to Feed a City”, the 2015 AIAS NE Quad Conference hosted by Drexel University in Philadelphia. He shared the story and work of The Urban Tree Connection. I was able to speak with Skip afterwards and connect his story back to the presentation that Amy Laura Cahn gave at the 3rd Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference. Winne, Mark. Closing the Food Gap. Boston: Beacon Press, 2008. Mark Winne is a long time food activist from Hartford, CT. Closing the Food Gap draws heavily from his work in Hartford and Southern Massachusetts. He intertwines the history of Hartford with an anecdotal narrative of his activist
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work; creating context while providing examples and solutions to food insecurity and food injustice. Although I did not directly use any of this book for this report, it helped me understand and empathize with both the poor and the activists involved in social advocacy and food justice. “Food Security in the US.” USDA Economic Research Service . Accessed May 10, 2015. http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/foodnutritionassistance/foodsecurityintheus/keystatisticsgraphics.aspx “Creating Access to Healthy, Affordable Food.” USDA . Accessed on May 10, 2015. http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/AccessHealthyFood.pdf Fruit & Vegetable Markets. The Retail Owners Institute . Accessed on May 12, 2015. http://retailowner.com/Benchmarks/FoodandBeverageStores/FruitVegetableMarkets Local Food Production. Phila.gov . Accessed on May 11, 2015. http://www.phila.gov/green/greenworks/equity_LocalFood.html Get permission to use the land from the PRA. Public Property, or PHDC. Grounded in Philly . Accessed on May 10, 2015. http://www.groundedinphilly.org/pathways/getpermissionuselandPhillyLandWorks/ “ IT’S OFFICIAL…A LEASE FOR MERION AVENUE!” The Urban Tree Connection Blog . April 20, 2015. Accessed on May 10, 2015. http://utcnfoods.com/2015/04/20/itsofficialaleaseformerionavenue/ REEP's food justice campaign!. Alternatives for Community and Environment . Accessed on May 10, 2015. http://www.aceej.org/reep/growordie What We Do. The Food Project . Accessed on May 10, 2015. http://thefoodproject.org/whatwedo Directives. Office of Food Initiatives, City of Boston. Accessed on May 10, 2015. http://www.cityofboston.gov/food /
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