My neighborhood, which is South Oak Park, is considered a food desert. That means affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain in my community, without transportation. But some residents have sparked solutions inside to this problem. One of the solutions is urban farming, which is bringing back agriculture into neighborhoods, such as mine.
Urban farming is seen as a solution to provide healthy, nutritious fruits and vegetables to impoverished communities.
First, residents who don’t have access to vehicles or transportation, instead of going to the grocery store, a person could just walk across the street, a few blocks, or even in their own front yard to get vegetables and fruits. Secondly, this saves money on your grocery bill because growing that produce you buy at the store will put a hole in your grocery bill. Third, it helps beautify the community. Many people want their communities to be healthy, elegant, and vibrant and having empty lots filled with unnecessary trash would defeat the purpose. Fourth, the resident can really experience organic, open pollenated vegetables, free from pesticides, herbicides, and different chemicals which are destructive to the human body. Finally, in Sacramento, many farmers around the region have teamed up together to create a coalition, which has the goal to change the ordinances in the city and county to allow residents to sell food in a residential areas. That means residents who need a little extra money can earn it from their homes.
“The goal of the urban agriculture ordinance is to legalize urban agriculture in the city and county of Sacramento. What we mean by agriculture is the ability to sell produce inside of town,” says Matt Read of the Sacramento’s Urban Agriculture Coalition. “This ordinance would help Sacramento realize its title as the “Farm to Fork Capital of the world”. What is missing from the equation is farms that can’t really go to the restaurant that are embracing this title right now, and there’s many people in many communities, who have been farming for a long period of time, that don’t get the credit for it. If we can legitimize urban agriculture then there will be potential there.”
I believe that urban farming is the right way to go because it adds value to your neighborhood making it more appealing to the eye, while also providing residents with access to healthy produce.
