Summary:

Increases in home foreclosures, unemployment and inner city poverty are leading to hunger and malnutrition in US urban neighborhoods at an unprecedented scale. Children from poverty stricken areas are at most risk as food banks have emptied, food prices have risen, and access to fresh food is almost nonexistent in many inner city neighborhoods. Urban agriculture can play a huge role in revitalizing affected neighborhoods by generating new employment opportunities in the production and marketing of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables as well as nursery and ornamental plants. The increased availability of local produce will help mitigate hunger and malnutrition, while non-food plants can provide many practical and aesthetic purposes that enhance the quality of life in urban areas. Urban land banks have expanded during the past few years and cities are exploring ways to utilize land vacancies productively. We propose a Research and Extension Planning Project to expand stakeholder involvement in efforts to facilitate and enhance the production, marketing, and utilization of specialty crops (fresh vegetables and fruits) in poverty stricken urban areas. Our long{erm goal is to address the needs, characteristics, and potential of vibrant urban specialty crops enterprises and demonstrate their benefits to revitalization of poverty stricken neighborhoods. In this project, we propose to conduct stakeholder surveys and organize a stakeholder conference to indentify critical needs for establishing vibrant urban specialty crops enterprises, and to establish teams of researchers and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive specialty crops interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and multi -state Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) proposal.

The attached paper was initially drafted in response to a Request For Applications (RFA) for a USDA-SCRI grant by Dr. Parwinder S. Grewal, Professor and Director, Center for Urban Environment and Economic Development, Ohio State University, OARDC, Wooster, OH  44691.  Dr. Grewal chose to present it to Representative Weddington and members of his roundtable on urban agriculture / farming in Columbus as a reference in the development of the Green and Growing Initiative.