This year, Congress will update the Farm Bill, the nation's largest and most significant national law governing food and nutrition.
This law determines what and how food ends up on our plates and how that impacts the livelihood of the farmers who grow the food. It regulates how school children and low-income families receive proper nutrition and how and what food farmers grow. Ultimately, these policies have a substantial effect on our health, our economy, and our natural resources.
Even though urban agriculture plays a significant role in what we eat in the U.S., it has never been clearly included in the Farm Bill.
As far back as WWI, urban agriculture has helped meet food demands in the United States. Urban farms provide healthy, fresh food to schools, food banks, and communities, especially those that have no full-service grocery stores in the area. Urban agriculture connects people to their food and those who grow it – farmers - even in cities, and it stimulates local economies. Yet, urban growers do not have the same access to relevant information or assistance as most other farmers.
Urban agriculture should be a recognized part of the larger vision for U.S. agriculture.
The Urban Agriculture Act will allow urban farmers to have the necessary tools to start and maintain farms in our neighborhoods nationwide. This increased access to support will result in better practices that protect our natural resources. It will also give individuals and schools better access to healthy, fresh food, promote the revitalization of abandoned land, and develop local economies.
Sign the Petition to let Congress know you support integrating the Urban Agriculture Act into the 2018 Farm Bill!
