People’s Garden established in Chicago to produce local food

CHICAGO — The first of 17 People’s Gardens across the United States is open in Chicago.

The new garden is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s People’s Garden Initiative and it is located at the Urban Transformation Network at Metropolitan Farms.

“The Urban Transformation Network at Metro Farms is a perfect fit for the People’s Garden as you increase access to nutritional, local food, support local food systems and improve lives,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

“You’re doing amazing things from raised outdoor garden beds to training and education, use of volunteers, aquaponics and expanding new garden sites on vacant lots,” said Vilsack during the ribbon-cutting event. “USDA funds used together with that hard work will help make it even more productive.”

The USDA is “the people’s department,” Vilsack said.

“What we’re doing here will have a powerful impact in the lives of people in the local community,” he said.

The aquaponic farm at Metro Farms includes six 800-gallon fish tanks for tilapia.

“We have over 6,000 fish here,” said Treana Johnson, director of Metro Farms. “When the fish come in they go to the nursery and we have students come in and help to move the fish and test the water.”

Nutrients from the fish tanks are used to feed the plants growing in the greenhouse.

“Our plants are grown with no chemicals,” Johnson said. “We grow lots of plants like chives, turnips, collard greens and basil.”

Students from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences have assisted with projects at Metro Farms.

“We commit our students to help get this garden built,” said William Hook, principal at the school located on the southwest corner of Chicago.

“It is rewarding to teach students about agriculture,” Hook said. “Our motto is learn by doing and on our 80-acre farm at the school we have cattle and horses and we raise crops that include corn and pumpkins.”

University of Illinois Extension has worked with Metro Farms for the past three to four years.

“We want to be involved with Metro Farms and the youth in this area to help them understand that agriculture is what moves the world,” said Leonard Parker, 4-H youth development and metro educator for the U of I Extension.

“It’s greater than farming,” Parker said. “We want to help the kids understand the importance of agriculture, particularly kids that are minorities that don’t have that understanding coming from an urban environment.”

“When people think of agriculture, they often think of rows and rows of corn and soybeans,” said Brian Guse, director of USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. “But this is agriculture, as well — agriculture isn’t just in rural America; it’s in urban America, too.”

Guse is the first director of this office and a former Chicago resident.

“Urban agriculture is a high priority for USDA,” he said. “USDA has charged our staff to elevate and expand urban agriculture services and this event is a testament to that endeavor.”

The Urban Agriculture Office has formed an agricultural advisory committee to advise the USDA secretary on the development of policies and outreach related to urban agriculture and innovative production.

“This committee will also identify barriers that folks in urban areas face when trying to engage in agriculture, as well as the barriers that USDA faces when trying to provide services for people in urban areas,” Guse said.

The 12-member committee administers two competitive funding opportunities.

The urban agriculture and innovative production grant supports urban agriculture and focuses on urban and suburban areas where access to fresh foods is limited or unavailable.

“Projects may target areas such as food access education, business and startup costs for new farmers and development of policies related to zoning that might get in the way of expanding urban agriculture opportunities,” Guse said. “Over the past two years, we’ve given about $8 million and this year we will give out another $20 million.”

The second opportunity is the community compost and food waste reduction cooperative agreement program.

“We offer funds to municipalities, counties, local governments and school districts to carry out planning and implementing activities to develop and test municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans,” Guse said.

“Over the past two years we’ve given out 37 awards valuing $3 million and we’re expecting to announce another funding opportunity in a couple of weeks.”

The new People’s Garden, Guse said, will provide the opportunity to connect neighbors to their natural environment and empower communities to grow food that meets the nutritional and health needs that are unique to their situations.

“More importantly, this garden will teach the next generation about agriculture,” Guse said. “We need to teach kids about where their food comes from and what goes into producing that food.”

The idea for the 17 gardens, that will be established throughout the United States, is to inspire the next generation to seek out opportunities related to agriculture.

“U.S. agriculture needs new farmers, engineers and entrepreneurs and that next generation is going to come from cities like Chicago,” Guse said. “Urban agriculture provides youth an opportunity to be exposed to the leading world industry, which is agriculture.”

For more information about Metropolitan Farms, go to www.metro-farms.com.