Urban Agriculture Starting To Grow In London, Ontario
Urban Agriculture Starting To Grow In London, Ontario
Urban agriculture, as defined by the city, is “the process of growing, processing, sharing and distributing food within the city.”
June 22, 2018
After about a year of discussing it, London is finally implementing its urban agriculture strategy which, by the looks of it, is flourishing.
Urban agriculture, as defined by the city, is “the process of growing, processing, sharing and distributing food within the city.”
The strategy is intended to guide people who are growing and harvesting food in the city for themselves, for social enterprises such as community kitchens or food banks, and for sale.
Urban Roots is a local volunteer-run not-for-profit urban farm that began its operations last summer on a hectare of land in the city that was a former horse pasture.
At the time, the fledgling enterprise was in farming limbo as it waited for an urban agriculture policy from the city to help guide them.
Urban Roots volunteer Mariam Waliji weeds the zucchini and squash rows at their garden plot located off of Hamilton Road near Highbury Avenue in London. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
Now, one of the Urban Roots founders, Richie Bloomfield, said the city strategy has enabled his group to expand from planting one tenth of a hectare last season to more than 0.4 hectares this spring.
“Truthfully, it doesn’t feel like a lot has changed and that’s a good thing,” Bloomfield said.
City planner Leif Maitland said the city is making sure it is aware of urban agriculture needs and is trying to reduce barriers for those wanting to grow food. To do so, the city has established a steering committee to help implement the strategy, which was written in November.
“It’s about education and connection,” Maitland said.
Urban Roots already has connected with community partners and has made it part of the organization’s mandate to do so, said Bloomfield.
Bloomfield said they have adopted a three-tier model in which one third of what is grown at Urban Roots is sold to local restaurants in the city such as The Root Cellar or Locomotive Espresso. Money raised helps fund the farming operation.
Another third will be sold at cost at the farm gate to community members once a week as well as to social enterprises such as Edgar and Joe’s cafe at Goodwill Industries.
The final third will be donated to places such as the London Food Bank and the Crouch Neighbourhood Resource Centre on Hamilton Road.
“Last year we barely got in the ground and scrambled to do something,” Bloomfield said. “This year is more of a trial (of) … what can we do with this model and see if its sustainable.”
Bloomfield said when it comes to testing soil quality, the farm is still relying on guidelines for Toronto, because the city has not implemented guidelines yet for urban agriculture soil quality.
Maitland said while community gardens have soil quality guidelines, he thinks the way to make sure farms are being placed on the right plot of land is by looking at its environmental history.
“What we’ve looked at is helping people find spaces that don’t have an issue,” Maitland said.
Bloomfield said Urban Roots is “humbled” by the volunteer support they’ve received.
The organization has been able to plant a variety of crops including carrots, beets and lettuce and will be holding a summer solstice launch on Saturday to show off what it has done and what it plans to do with its community partners.
While Bloomfield said the founders of Urban Roots didn’t have green thumbs before, he said they’ve grown into it now.
“We have done a lot of learning ourselves, but that has truly been a community supportive effort,” Bloomfield said. “So many people have the knowledge we don’t and they’ve shared it with us.”
IF YOU GO
What: Urban Roots Summer Solstice Launch Party
Where: 21 Norlan Ave., London
When: 9 a.m. to noon