The 2009 ASHS Annual Conference

The City of Philadelphia has a rich history of urban gardening since it’s founding by William Penn. Each wave of immigrants that settled in Philadelphia brought their own form of urban gardening and an array of new ethnic food crops.  Philadelphia like many other large metropolitan cities is afflicted with urban blight or urban voids left by the deterioration and ultimate removal of structures in neighborhoods throughout the city. This land area now available for some use has resulted in the mayor, city officials and other community groups to consider the establishment or expansion of urban farming enterprises.  The utilization of vacant lands for urban agriculture offers many positive aspects such as, production of nutritious fruits and vegetables for consumption by or sale to people in local neighborhoods, communities or restaurants, active engagement and education of the urban youth about the food production system as well as the sciences behind the production of food, the economic development and revitalization of neighborhoods through urban farming, re-greening of the urban landscape, and increased tax revenue for the city. There are also major stumbling blocks or issues that need to be addressed such as: acquisition and ownership of the land resources, getting community involvement and buy in, what horticultural production technology to be employed, need to create urban agricultural zoning, need to incorporate urban farming as a permanent part of the overall future city planning, marketing outlets and strategies, development of educational linkages to the city school systems and other youth empowerment organizations, and finally availability of funding. There are many issues to be addressed but the opportunities to reconnect the urban areas to the production of foods and natural order of life is tremendous.