Urban Farming Projects Grow in Dallas
Dallas’ agriculture plan aims to increase land used for urban farms by 75% while raising production at those locations by 75%.
By Noah DeGarmo
Dallas Express
Dec 31, 2023
Excerpt:
Restorative Farms is an example of one community-based urban farm system in South Dallas that aims to provide fresh, sustainable food to Dallas communities through urban agriculture.
The initiative employs “game-changing” operations such as Grozilla — an indoor growing machine that allows urban farmers to “rapidly scale” their growing capacity, according to Restorative Farms’ website.
“This is just different kinds of farming, and this will be the future of farming,” said Restorative Farms co-founder Brad Boa to D Magazine. “There’s going to be [a] huge need for this kind of technology in the future.”
The City of Dallas indicated its support for urban farming when the council members passed the Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan in the spring. This plan outlines goals and recommendations to promote urban farming to provide fresh food options to communities that do not have grocery stores.
While urban agriculture is on the rise in Dallas, it is still behind other large Texas cities. According to the plan, there were 54 community gardens in Dallas in 2021, while Austin and Houston had nearly double that amount relative to their populations.
Consultants hired by the City found that Dallas has between 15 and 16 acres of urban farming projects, mostly run by nonprofits. These projects include community gardens, warehouse farms, and vertical farms.
