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Five Borough Farm will strengthen the growing urban agriculture movement and secure its role in making New York City a more sustainable, productive, and beautiful place to live. We are bringing together urban farmers, community gardeners, educators, and advocates from across the city to partner with experts in sustainable development, urban planning, food policy and program evaluation in order to:
1. Research and document the state of urban agriculture in New York City today
2. Create metrics tools and evaluation guides so the city's farmers and gardeners can track the impact of their activities
3. Steer municipal policy to strengthen and support urban agriculture
To reach these objectives, the project team has:
• Convened over 90 farmers and gardeners, funders, and nonprofit advocates for a kickoff workshop called "The Future of Farming in NYC" to discuss their goals and priorities, the resources they need to sustain their work, and how best to evaluate urban agriculture's benefits.
• Interviewed more than 60 leading NYC and national urban agriculture stakeholders, including formal research interviews with31 farmers and gardeners, city and state officials, nonprofit advocates, and funders.
• Developed an "indicator guide" with dozens of health, social, ecological, and economic indicators (e.g. amount of food waste collected and composted, number of hours spent on physical activity, number of participants eating fresh food, etc.). |
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• Surveyed municipal governments nationwide to identify best practices relating to urban agriculture and developed recommendations to change city policy in New York City to better support urban agriculture.
• Developed infographics illustrating key elements of the urban agriculture system in New York City, and explaining policy and metrics concepts.
• Mapped urban agricultural sites that have never before been compiled into a single document.
• Conducted over 60 site visits to community gardens and urban farms across the five boroughs.
• Convened periodic outreach meetings
with stakeholders and project advisors.
• Presented project updates at the American Community Garden Association national conference and the American Society of Landscape Architects annual meeting.
All of the project's findings, recommendations and tools will be disseminated through a website and publication, both scheduled to be released in Spring 2012.
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| Advisory Committee |
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Press Coverage |
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John Ameroso, Cornell Extension
Jacquie Berger, Just Food
Ray Figueroa, Friends of Brook Park
Yonette Fleming, Hattie Carthan Community Garden
Anthony Giancatarino, Center for Social Inclusion
Regina Ginyard, La Finca del Sur
Robert Jackson, Bed Stuy Rescue Mission
Aley Kent, formerly Heifer International
Annie Novak, Rooftop Farms
Steve Perry, John Bowne High School
Edie Stone, Greenthumb
David Vigil, East New York Farms
Karen Washington, La Familia Verde/Community Garden Coalition
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Our favorite food columnist Mark Bittman recently commended the Design Trust's Five Borough Farm project and our policy fellow Nevin Cohen in the New York Times:
"No Turkeys Here"
Nov. 19, 2011
The New York Times
"Inside the Five Borough Farm Project"
May 25, 2011
Edible Queens
"Five Borough Farm"
January 19, 2011
Urban Omnibus |
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