The Power of Urban Agriculture in Transforming a Community
Urban farms play a vital role in our cities, providing access to healthy, local food, green space that benefits both body and mind, and more.
By Sara Dewey
Conservation Law Association
Dec 23, 2021
Excerpt:
Francey Slater, a co-founder of Mill City Grows, an urban farming organization in Lowell, knows firsthand how urban agriculture changes a community. “When we started our first urban farm in downtown Lowell in 2013, people thought we were crazy,” she recalls. “The land, a small corner lot, was a mess – overgrown, filled with trash.” Scores of volunteers, including the lot’s owner, moved dirt and cleared out trash, weeds, and rocks to make this garden grow.
As Francey tells it, “As the garden began to take shape, it started to generate lots of attention. People would pull over in their cars to watch the transformation. Folks from the local homeless shelter came over to lend a hand and learn more. Neighbors stopped by to tell us stories of the gardens they used to grow. In short, the farm became a nucleus of a newly forming community.”
This tiny garden project now extends out over six acres of land – on city parks, abandoned tax-title properties, non-buildable land, as well as institutionally and privately owned parcels all over Lowell. The empty lot that became Mill City’s first site has since hosted dozens of workshops and field trips and produced over 30,000 pounds of fresh food, feeding many neighbors. Francey says, “The garden has become a source of beauty, hope, and nourishment for the many people who pass by, stop in, and get involved.”
Many cities across New England have embraced urban agriculture. However, urban farmers and gardeners still struggle to gain access to land in their own communities because of cost, competing land uses, or impenetrable legal systems. A bill under consideration in Massachusetts helps to address this issue of land access.
