“We grow community:” How urban agriculture has sprouted in New Haven
Amid the growth of community gardens across the state, urban farmers discussed food apartheid, guerilla gardens and Community Supported Agriculture.
By Alyssa Michel
Yale Daily News
Feb 23, 2023
Excerpt:
Harris, a New Haven native, created the urban agriculture company Root Life after working as a farmer and environmental educator at Common Ground High School for three and a half years. Harris now has over 10 years of urban farming experience, which he uses to manage community gardens across New Haven. In these gardens, he grows produce for his Community Supported Agriculture subscription programs and teaches youth and community members how to start gardens of their own. New Haven has over 50 community gardens.
Last year, Harris started a garden behind the Faith Temple Deliverance Center on Newhall Street — he also currently manages the Armory Community Garden on County Street. Harris explained that community gardens provide increased access to fresh produce while serving as a means to strengthen and build community within New Haven.
“They allow [us], in a lot of spaces, to address food apartheid issues,” Harris said to the News. “So getting healthy food to local residents in ways they would not be able to get otherwise because it’s just not in their neighborhoods, their areas, their cities.”
The term, “food apartheid,” as opposed to “food desert,” highlights the racially discriminatory practices that underlie a lack of access to food in certain communities. Unlike a desert, Harris explained, apartheid is an unnatural, societally-driven occurrence.
