FIGURE 8. Map of Lost Gardens and Farms, 2008-2019

In Philadelphia, 78 percent of Black residents and 80 percent of Spanish-speaking residents live in high poverty areas. Data on active garden and farm locations show that they are located predominantly in these high-poverty, BIPOC neighborhoods, especially in North, West, and South Philadelphia. About two out of every three active gardens and farms in the city are in Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty (RCAPs), where over 50 percent of residents are BIPOC and over 20 percent live below the poverty line. This affirms the role of urban agriculture in providing essential food, especially in low income BIPOC communities where need is dire and food stores do not provide enough access to fresh produce. According to the Department of Public Health’s Neighborhood Food Retail Study, in roughly half of the city’s Census Block Groups have fewer than one in every 10 food stores sell fresh fruits and vegetables.9 While gardens and farms could play a role in providing produce in those low-produce areas, only 20 percent of low-produce Block Groups have at least one active garden or farm.

FIGURE 6. Map of Access to Stores Selling Fresh

Produce, with Current Garden Locations

~50% of Block Groups have a very low proportion of food stores that sell fresh produce (fewer than 1 in 10)

With land insecurity the number one issue for Philadelphia growers, the future of many active and essential growing spaces is uncertain. A full third are in areas with the highest intensity of new construction, making them vulnerable to demolition and/or redevelopment. In fact, some gardens and farms have been lost to new development, which poses a grave risk to gardens that do not have secure ownership; some have been demolished, only to remain vacant; and some are overgrown and overlooked today, after programs and resources that once supported community use of these spaces ended.

FIGURE 7. Map of the Density of New Residential Building Permits, 2008-2018,

with Active Garden Locations Overlaid

1 in 3 active gardens or farms are in areas with the highest intensity of new construction

More than half (54%) of participants polled during the planning process said they know of a garden that is currently threatened, and 46 percent know of a garden that has already been lost due a range of reasons including demolition by land owners, redevelopment, and burnout or departure of garden leaders. An analysis of 2019 data from the Philadelphia Garden Data Collaborative, supplemented by data from the planning team and participants in public engagement, revealed a loss of over 140 known gardens and farms that were in existence and documented in the Community Gardening in Philadelphia 2008Harvest Report by Drs. Domenic Vitiello and Michael Nairn of The University of Pennsylvania.10 The data also identify new gardens that have taken root in the years since 2008, so the data do not show a net loss of over 140 gardens over this time period. Nonetheless, issues of land insecurity remain the number one issue for farmers and gardeners citywide.

FIGURE 8. Map of Lost Gardens and Farms, 2008-2019

140+ known gardens and farms in Philadelphia have been lost since 2008

Lost and Threatened Gardens cards like the one at right were available at the first public meeting. Each completed card allowed the Planning Team to verify and update the Philadelphia Garden Data Collaborative database. The insights shared also helped better understand current threats and what was lost and why.

“I remember the joy of eating fresh snow peas off the vine, snacking on fresh raspberries, and making my freezer full of fresh pesto to last all winter. My toddler loved watering the garden. I miss it so much. . . . A developer from NYC bought [the land].” —Public meeting participant

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA’S GARDEN DATA TRACKING THE FOOTPRINT OF URBAN AGRICULTURE OVER TIME

The maps and statistics about Philadelphia’s agricultural spaces presented in this plan rely on September 2019 community garden data provided to the Planning Team by the Philadelphia Garden Data Collaborative (PGDC). The Planning Team updated the database to reflect current conditions and returned the data to PGDC in October 2021 for ongoing stewardship. Years of study, data collection, and tracking preceded Growing from the Root’s data analysis. Below is a summary:

> Penn State Extension’s first garden coordinator, Libby Goldstein, reports 501 community vegetable gardens supported by Penn State Extension in 1994.11 > Community Gardening in Philadelphia 2008 Harvest Report by Drs. Domenic Vitiello and Michael Nairn of The University of Pennsylvaniadocuments a decline in food producing community gardens from 501 in 1994 to 226 in 2008. The authors based their analysis on a list of over 600 possible garden sites received from Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and Penn State Agricultural Extension; rigorous groundtruthing verified 226 food producing community gardens, a 54% decline since 1994. > Vitiello and Nairn entrust their data to Amy Laura Cahn at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP)’s Garden Justice Legal Initiative(GJLI), which begins advocacy to preserve and protect local growing spaces by pursuing land security for existing gardens and farms. > The Philadelphia Garden Data Collaborative forms, with PILCOP, PHS, Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), Haverford College, Villanova University, and community growers (today, Soil Generation) working together to combine the 2008 Harvest Report data with PHS’s newest garden list and a variety of other sources. PGDC members then begin a lengthy process of cleaning the data, removing duplicates, fixing errors, and identifying gardens lost over time. NGT hires The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) to produce an initial map of community garden locations and parcels. Faculty and student research assistants at Haverford

College complete the mapping and data cleaning effort, and the Collaborative’s partner organizations, supported by student labor from Haverford, Villanova, and Temple, ground-truth the new garden database and join it to parcel data from the Philadelphia Water Department. PGDC members update this database periodically, with notable contributions from Dr. Craig Borowiak of Haverford College and Dr. Peleg Kremer of Villanova University. > The Growing from the Root Planning Team begins with PGDC’s community garden database and adds 2019 Philadelphia Food System data collected by Dr. Kremer on Institutional Gardens, Urban Farms, and

Orchards, 2020 Philadelphia Orchard Project locations, 2020 NGT Owned and Leased Property data, and 2020 PHS CityHarvest data, plus survey data collected from participants at the first Growing from the Root public meeting. This is the data represented in the plan and returned to PGDC.