Baltimore farmers are cultivating the city’s first ‘AgriHood,’ heralded for its innovation
The urban farm also has connected families with resources beyond food, helping dozens of neighbors with energy-saving grants and other services to help prevent eviction and homelessness.
By Stephanie García
Baltimore Sun
Sep 24, 2021
Excerpt:
Known as Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm, the urban farm was founded eight years ago by Richard Francis, affectionately known as Farmer Chippy, who was looking for a community from the Caribbean diaspora in Baltimore and wanted to grow food for — and with — Park Heights residents.
The Plantation has grown beyond Park Heights, with farmers aiming to grow 250,000 pounds of food across 30 Baltimore City-owned vacant lots, all leased by the Plantation. But it’s dedicated to the community in which it started.
Collectively, these farmers and others in Baltimore plan to build the city’s first “AgriHood” — a marketplace and community-shared agriculture and training resource institute. By the end of the year, training for farmers on food safety and good agricultural practices will be complete, as well as soil testing and risk assessments across the farm’s sites.
“We’ll be positioned and ready to serve our youngest citizens, those who are at risk in Park Heights,” Francis said. “The institute is going to put agriculture in the classroom and [be] following through with our children so that they can become farmers and chefs before they become scientists, doctors and lawyers.”
