Why Dallas Sees a Future in Urban Farming
Victoria Gomez
Urban farms have made it easier for communities to access fresh food. With the right infrastructure, City Hall believes it has the potential to improve Dallas’ dining and food systems.
By Nataly Keomoungkhoun
D Magazine
December 26, 2023
Excerpt:
The city of Dallas is paying attention. This past spring, City Hall adopted the Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan to outline goals and recommendations to boost urban farm development. It aims to improve access to healthy foods in neighborhoods that don’t have grocery stores. It also hopes to motivate restaurants to buy local when possible, reducing the distance between ingredient and table. The plan was part of the Dallas Comprehensive Environmental & Climate Action Plan, or CECAP, which was approved in May 2020. It called for improving access to fruits, vegetables, and other healthy options.
Restorative Farms has a similarly ambitious mission. The lettuce heads harvested from Grozilla are moved from Fair Park onto a truck to help feed the South Dallas community, of which portions are federally designated food deserts. At any given time, produce from Dallas’ urban agriculture farms could end up in the kitchen of a restaurant or in a local grocery store. What urban agriculture presently brings to the table is only the beginning.
