With Loss Of Two Farms, Is Cleveland Still A Leader In Urban Agriculture?
Some food policy experts in Cleveland say the loss of Bumper Crop Farm and Cudell Orchard shows just how vulnerable other spaces could be.
By Justin Glanville
Idea Stream
January 19, 2021
Excerpt:
A decade ago, national publications stumbled over themselves to praise Cleveland for its cutting edge policies on urban farming.
In 2010, Travel & Leisure magazine named Cleveland one of the world’s “most visionary cities” because it created a special zoning code to allow farms on formerly vacant residential land. Another national publication ranked the city second in the U.S. in its commitment to the local food movement.
Flash forward to 2021, and two urban farms that date from that era are being redeveloped: one as mixed-income housing, the other as a preschool. That’s angered nearby residents, who question whether the city’s progressive policies toward urban land use were merely a stopgap until more profitable uses came along.
“It’s not a pretty picture, quite frankly,” said Anne Armstrong, who lives a few blocks away from Cudell Orchard, on Franklin Boulevard and West 85th Street on the city’s West Side. “I am very concerned for the city because they talk about being sustainable and caring about this stuff, and then their actions are the opposite.”
