Greensgrow and Brownfield Redevelopment Solutions Form Partnership to Assist Cities and Municipalities Start Their Own Urban Agriculture Programs

In many cities, getting food markets and healthy foods into low and moderate-income neighborhoods has been a priority for community food activists and local residents who see a link between food accessibility and overall community health. Urban Agriculture, with its ability to produce, process, and aggregate healthy and locally produced food is one of the best management practices available to increase the flow of fresh food being distributed in low and moderate-income neighborhoods.

Urban agriculture has also proven to be an effective and beneficial use of local brownfields, providing a tenant and purposeful re-use for underutilized land - helping restore value to the property and its surrounding neighborhood while providing a source for fresh food for underserved populations.

Greensgrow has recently initiated a consultation service to work in partnership with various local cities and municipalities to assist them in establishing their own Urban Agriculture programs. The consulting services will provide local governments the capacity to address regulatory and financial challenges for the establishment of urban farms on former industrial property in their inner-city neighborhoods, as well as business, operations and site development expertise to non-profit and for-profit entities that will build and operate these new farms.

For this project, Greensgrow has partnered with Brownfield Redevelopment Solutions, Inc. (BRS - http://www.njbrownfield.com/), a firm that has extensive experience in public sector economic development and brownfields management services including environmental assessment and remediation technical expertise. BRS's single mission has been to assist its public sector clientele with the establishment and management of viable, aggressive brownfield programs that serve as the cornerstone to revitalizing their communities.

The Greensgrow/BRS team will leverage their combined experience to provide local governments every service they may require to establish successful and properly-funded urban agriculture programs including: research into City and State regulatory frameworks to identify regulatory and zoning issues that may impact urban agriculture development; site identification and acquisition; environmental workplan development; and funding source identification.

Greensgrow and BRS will also work directly with groups hoping to create their own urban farms by providing consulting for the development of successful Urban Agriculture business models for non-profit and for-profit groups; design of construction and maintenance of on-site growing systems; farm operation and management; establishment and operation of on-site food distribution structures and practices, and education and training programs.

Greensgrow and BRS in Newark, New Jersey

Already Greensgrow and BRS have been working with the City of Newark helping them establish their new Urban Agriculture program by assisting the locally-based non-profit group, Urban Farming Solutions (UFS), set up and initiate their new farm in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of the city's East Ward. Greensgrow and BRS have worked closely with the Newark's Department of Economic and Housing Development to find and secure funding sources for their program, investigate existing regulatory and zoning hurdles to urban agriculture redevelopment, and complete an environmental assessment of the proposed farm's future location. Through funding provided by the City of Newark, Greensgrow and BRS were able to work with UFS to help them shape their business plan, prepare site development drawings and identify potential sources of funding for their operations. UFS hopes to start their new endeavor in the summer of 2010.

Currently Greensgrow/BRS is in conversation with three other major cities suffering from the dual ailment of no food access and too much unmanaged unproductive land. They have come to us because of our deep and unusual experience in these twin seemingly disparate yet potentially intertwined fields. At Greensgrow we believe that land is abandoned because we CHOOSE to leave it that way. If you would Choose a different path for the abandoned land in your city or municipality, get in touch and maybe we can grow food flowers and YOUR community.

For more information, contact Mary Seton Corboy mary@greensgrow.org or Matthew Brener matthew@njbrownfield.com

PS:  Why would your NPO, civic organization, municipality want/need to hire Greensgrow.BRS? 

"As backwards as it sounds, while there are testing protocols for turning agricultural land into homes, there aren't any for turning urban sites back into farms. " - an environmental engineer