Urban Agriculture Resources & Related Links
- How to start a community supported or urban agriculture project
- Success stories and ongoing Brownfields and Land Revitalization agriculture projects
- Resources & related links from EPA, other federal agencies and non-governmental organizations
- Frequent questions
- Presentations and additional educational materials and resources
Resources from the Federal Government
- EPA
- Brownfields and Urban Agriculture: Interim Guidelines for Safe Gardening Practices
- Elder Accessible Gardening (PDF)
- Brownfields Revitalization – Urban Agriculture and Food Connection
- How Does Your Garden Grow? Brownfields Redevelopment and Local Agriculture (PDF)
- Industrial Properties Renewed Through Agriculture (PDF) (2 pp, 277K)
- Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook: EPA Region 5 worked with local Toledo partners to develop a planning toolkit based on a business plan created for the Fernwood Growing Center in Toledo, OH. The Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook provides a framework for any organization or community interested in developing an urban farm on cleaned brownfields or vacant sites to help address neighborhood blight, food access, or community development challenges. The handbook provides guidance on how to assemble marketing, operating, and financial strategies to communicate your urban farm project to potential partners and funders.
To guide your responses, questionnaires related to each section as well as financial spreadsheets are also included. - EPA Agriculture website
- EcoTools: Urban Gardens & Potentially Contaminated Land
- Environmental Justice
- Food Systems 101 webinar
- Food Waste Recycling
- Integrated Pest Management
- Local Food, Local Places
- Smart Growth
- Urban Waters
- US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Community Food Systems Agriculture
- http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nutrition-assistance-programs/community-food-systems
- USDA Partners and Extension Map
- Economic Research Service (ERS)
- Atlas of Rural and Small Town America
- Food Environmental Atlas
- Food Access Research Atlas
- Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts and Issues
- Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
- Rural Development, Community Development
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Resources from Other Sources
- Groundwork USA
- Information about other grant resources
- Information about planning, policy, and practice guides
- Information about soil and soil testing
- Cornell, Soil Quality and Testing and Healthy Soils, Healthy Community project page
- Urban Agriculture and Soil Contamination: An Introduction to Urban Gardening Practice Guide #25, Winter 2009
- Establishing Urban Agriculturein Your Community: What you need to know before you get your hands dirty, Winter 2010
- Community supported and Urban Agriculture in Your Community
- American Planning Association's Food Systems and Health page introduces food systems and planning to improve food access and create healthier communities
- American Planning Association Brownfields
- American Planning Association Planning for Food Access introduces food systems and planning to improve food access and create healthier communities
- Denver Urban Gardens
- Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Oklahoma is an educational foundation that serves to empower communities with the knowledge and tools necessary to participate in agriculture.
- Rodale Institute is a non-profit organization that educates people on organic farming through research and outreach.
- Growing Power
- Information about community gardens
- American Community Gardening Association is a non-profit organization in the United States and Canada that works to support community food and gardening
- National Gardening Association is a non-profit organization that provides plant-based education, resources, and grants to individuals interested in home, school, or community gardens
- Community and Urban Agriculture International
- City Farmer is a website based in Canada to support urban agriculture
- The Urban Farmer is another Canadian resource for urban agriculture and local food production
- Resource Centers on Urban Agriculture and Food Systems (RUAF) Foundation Home page explains the role that urban agriculture can play in a community and case studies.
- Thrive UK is a small national charity in the UK that provides opportunities to garden for individuals with disabilities. It serves to empower those who have mental illnesses and disabilities as well as help people who have suffered an accident or illness
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations