May 6, 2016 | seedstock

The promise of urban agriculture [Law Street]

Excerpt: Urban agriculture can manifest in a variety of ways in both suburban and city environments but it has been opposed in many areas throughout the country.

How will we feed the megacities of the future? [Take Part]

Excerpt: More people are moving to urban areas, and making new connections with rural farmers will be necessary to feed them.

Northeast

USDA seeks input from local food producers [Echo Press]

Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking input from Minnesota local food producers. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s first Local Foods Marketing Practices Survey will collect benchmark data about local food from producers nationwide.    

City Council encourages ‘vertical farming’ [Philly.com]

Excerpt: City Council introduced resolutions Thursday calling for the expansion of vertical and urban farming in Philadelphia. Vertical farms use artificial lighting and climate control to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits year-round without sunlight or soil.

New York’s “food desert” myth [City Journal]

Excerpt: To encourage a “sustainable, resilient food system,” New York’s city council has proposed a $5 million municipal farm-subsidy program, under which the city would buy development easements in the Hudson Valley.  

South

D.C. couple cries fowl after being cited for having backyard chickens [WAMU]

Excerpt: D.C. residents Allison Sheedy and Daniel McInnis keep four chickens in the backyard of their home in Chevy Chase, but the D.C. Department of Health says the fowl are running afoul of the law.   

The INDY’s Food Triangles: Katherine Gill of Durham, North Carolina’s Hub Farm [Indy Week]

Excerpt: The sun could barely peek through the thick cloud cover on a chilly Thursday morning in early March. Still, a group of thirteen teachers—a capacity crowd, actually—had gathered on Durham’s Hub Farm for a teacher’s workshop, hoping to learn new techniques and ideas to take back to their classrooms.   

Mount Sidney farm in Virginia brings a store to area residents [News Leader]

Excerpt: Tucked underneath the cover of trees is a small farming operation that has been reaching out to the local community.

Albany Bistro offers new urban garden as farm-to-table movement takes hold in Alabama [Decatur Daily]

Excerpt: The locally grown food trend that is well established in other regions of the country but has lagged behind for years locally is now moving out of the niche and into the mainstream, according to two local restaurateurs.

Midwest

Breakthrough proclamation puts Iowa City on the forefront of climate action [Eco Watch]

Excerpt: Could Iowa City one day join Copenhagen, Vancouver, Amsterdam, San Francisco and other climate action champions as one of the greenest cities in the world?

Raised in Chicago: West Side urban farm reaps aquaponics harvest [Medill News Service]

Excerpt: It’s 10:30 on a sunny morning in West Humboldt Park and  time for Benjamin Kant to feed his fish.  

Good Food Fund gives grants to six local food-related projects [Soapbox Media]

Excerpt: The Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council recently awarded six local food-related projects a total of $39,500 through its Good Food Fund.

Indiana’s Ball State students build prototype mobile greenhouse [The Star Press]

Excerpt: Ball State University students have completed the design and construction of what is being called the first non-toxic, fully automated, mobile greenhouse for organic urban farming.       

A produce oasis: HALO to launch Racine county’s first urban Community Supported Agriculture program [Journal Times]

Excerpt: Community Supported Agriculture programs, CSAs for short, have been cropping up across the state in growing numbers over the past decade, and for good reason.  

West

Food Roots to expand farm-to-school education in Tillamook County, Oregon [Tillamook County Pioneer]

Excerpt: Food Roots is excited to announce the launch of a crowdfunding campaign to raise the final funds needed to implement new farm-to-school educational projects for Tillamook County students, including farm field trips, a school-to-market entrepreneurship program, summer educational programs, family garden engagement events and more.

Backyard farms growing trend in Southern Colorado [KOAA]

Excerpt: It’s becoming more common than ever to have chickens and even goats as your next door neighbors.