Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production News

Opportunities

• Reminder! USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Composting and Food Waste Reduction Cooperative Agreement applications are due in grants.gov on June 15, 2023.
• Applications for US Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Grants are due by June 1, 2023. $1 billion is available to provide communities with equitable access to trees and green spaces.
• Agricultural Marketing Service has launched two new grant opportunities. Applications are due July 19, 2023:
  • Indigenous Animals Grant Program provides up to $50 million dollars to support the priorities of Tribal Nations in meeting the needs of traditional harvesting methods and indigenous animals.
  • Local Meat Capacity Grant Program provides up to $75 million in grants to fund innovative projects designed to build resilience in the meat and poultry supply chain by providing producers with more local processing options and strengthening their market potential.
• USDA is providing $45 million in funding to support Underserved and Veteran Farmers, Ranchers and Foresters. Applications are due by July 25, 2023.

Highlights from USDA

• USDA has announced the creation of 12 new Regional Food Business Centers that will provide national coverage coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access new markets and navigate federal, state, and local resources, thereby closing the gaps to success. View the press release and announcement here. For more information visit the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Regional Food Business Centers Program
• The goal of the American Rescue Plan Technical Assistance Investment Program is to ensure improved understanding of and equitable participation in the full range of USDA programs and services among underserved farmers, ranchers, forest landowners and operators. Through this program, a network of cooperators is working collaboratively with USDA and with other cooperators to deliver targeted technical assistance programs and outreach activities focused on a range of topics.
• There is still time to complete the 2022 Census of Agriculture! Even small plots of land - whether rural or urban - growing fruit, vegetables or some food animals count if $1,000 or more of such products were raised and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the Census year. Producers can respond online at usda.gov or by mail.
• At the AIM for Climate Summit, USDA leadership will discuss a systemic approach to innovation for climate-smart food systems and more. Join in person from May 8-10 in Washington, D.C. or watch the livestream. For those interested in food loss and waste, May 10^th will include a panel discussion focused on this important topic.
• The Food and Agriculture Mapper and Explorer brings together data from dozens of publicly available datasets to make it easy for food system practitioners to search and visualize up-to-date information about U.S. local and regional food systems. This new tool is an open-access resource designed to increase the accessibility of local and regional food systems data for federal grant applicants, farmers and food entrepreneurs, and researchers. To learn more about navigating this tool with case study examples, watch the recorded webinar online. If you would like to share any recommendations on this tool, submit them on the recommendations page. If you don’t see yourself or other businesses in your community, register them through our USDA Local Food Directories portal.

• OUAIP staff are on the road! The grants & agreements team recently visited Kansas City, MO to meet with award recipients. They were warmly welcomed as they traveled to six projects in Kansas City, MO; Douglas County, KS; Common Ground Producers in Wichita, KS; The Giving Grove; Cultivate Kansas City, and The KC Farm School at Gibbs Road. Staff were so impressed by partnerships and connections being made on the ground to support a robust local food system

People’s Garden Initiative

Happy Anniversary to The People’s Garden! Last May, USDA renewed the People’s Garden initiative, which has grown to 1,300 gardens across the country. We invite you to join us by registering your local garden on the USDA People’s Garden website. Community gardens, urban farms, school gardens, and small-scale agriculture projects in rural, suburban and urban areas can join the “People’s Garden” community.  

#Plant23

It’s that time of year! Share your #Plant23 Stories with us and make sure to tag @FarmersGov. We’ll be celebrating the diversity of your plantings!

People’s Garden Webinar Series

Thanks to all that attended the People’s Garden webinar “Celebrating National Garden Month”. For those who were unable to attend, the recording is available on-demand by visiting People’s Garden Webinars.

Join us on May 24^th at 3 p.m. ET for the next webinar in the series, “Composting Awareness”. We will be sharing resources and examples of ways to start engaging your community on composting and encourage neighbors and local establishments to reduce food waste and begin composting (register for the webinar here).

Featured Garden of the Month

NRCS Missouri, Seed St. Louis and Brittany Woods Middle School held a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 3rd to celebrate the school’s garden earning the People’s Garden title. Speakers included The School District of University City Superintendent Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, University City Mayor Terry Crow, NRCS Urban Agriculture Specialist Sarah Szachnieski, Seed St. Louis CEO Matt Schindler and FSA Missouri State Committee member Tony White spoke at the event. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, the students excitingly led tours through the garden and classrooms to show all their hard work.

What We’re Reading

• Institute for Local Self Reliance: A Growing Movement: 2022 Community Composter Census
• University of Florida: Urban agriculture: local government stakeholders’ perspectives and informational needs
• Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic: Federal Liability Protection For Food Donation Fact Sheet
• Environmental Protection Agency: 2019 Wasted Food Report
• International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems: Food Briefing: Who’s Tipping the Scales?
• United National Environment Program Food and Agriculture Organization: Sustainable Food Cold Chains

In Case You Missed It

 May 7-13 is International Compost Awareness Week! For healthier soil, healthier food…compost!

• Registration is now open for Brownfields 2023! If you are in the brownfields industry or are part of a locale with a brownfields site, and you are looking to revitalize your community, spur economic growth, restore the environment, and protect the public health, then don’t miss Brownfields 2023. OUAIP will be presenting USDA Resources for Climate Resilient Urban Food Systems, so make sure to stop by this session if you plan to attend!

• Last week President Biden signed Executive Order 14096 on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All. Watch the President’s remarks here, read more here, and see reactions here.

• The EPA and partners have developed this amazing toolkit, “Preventing Wasted Food in Your Community: A Social Marketing Toolkit”. Download resources for free and join the campaign to stop wasted food in your community!
• EPA recently awarded $1.5 million for their Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program for Research to Reduce Consumer Food Waste in the United States Grants.

Last, but not least, Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms out there! We hope you all have a wonderful day full of love and joy (and hopefully some rest 😊). No matter your stage in life, Nutrition.gov has great resources to help you stay happy and healthy.