Urban agriculture has been gaining more and more attention in the past few years. And it's not surprising to me since I have believed for several years now that an urge has been welling in the hearts of urban and suburban people the world over, an overwhelming desire to reconnect with the earth and with the legacies of their ancestors. I, too, have felt this need and recently began investigating the various ways in which "average" people—those who are not celebrities nor excessively wealthy—could produce their own food while rediscovering the true meaning of community.
I have found that not only are many people exploring their agricultural roots and putting their hands in the soil, but they are doing it within city limits—and not just those out in the sticks. Folks are organizing community gardens in large cities like San Jose and Detroit.
The more research I do, the more I believe in the feasibility of my ideas. I live in Willow Glen, a well-to-do suburb of San Jose that, like many other areas of the city, has a rich agricultural history. Only recently (during the last four decades) did this area metamorphose into a yuppie nesting ground, teeming with affluent, self-centered urbanites. Many large residential properties were sold during the last ten years, and many of them are over 10,000 square feet. Some were subdivided and subsequently developed with townhouse groups or crowded detached homes. Other large properties in Willow Glen remained intact, and several—some recently sold, others in the hands of longtime owners—have large expanses of land. These enormous lots often have only small to medium-sized houses on them; the remaining space of these lots is usually just filled with unmanaged weed forests. Some people have tilled their soil and planted productive gardens, but this does not seem to represent the majority. Many of the backyards I have observed on my afternoon strolls are underutilized.
My proposal is simple. I believe these yards could be intensively farmed under the leadership of one organization. CityFarm would operate as a non-profit organization and would be run by community members from all walks of life. Landowners could choose to "donate" their land by leasing it to CityFarm, in which case they could deduct from their income taxes the amount they would have collected in rent. Alternatively, landowners could opt for crop shares as payment for use of their land.
The idea is fairly straightforward, but several considerations must be made; the general interest level of the public regarding such arrangements, zoning laws, liability and safety issues, funding sources and philosophy are all important factors that must be given serious attention. I really do think the interest is out there, but securing funding and working through liability issues could take several years.
Original Publication Date: 3-27-2005 4:45 PM PST
