WORCESTER – Today is Earth Day, and for many years that meant volunteers fanning out across city neighborhoods, picking up the trash and junk from vacant lots that accumulated since the previous Earth Day cleanup.

The half-acre lot at 63 Oread St. was no exception.

A decade ago, that came to an end when the Regional Environmental Council decided a green thumb might make a more lasting difference to the environment and provide fresh vegetables at a price that people in the neighborhood could afford.

Today there are more than 60 community gardens in the city; countless backyard gardens growing tomatoes, cukes, salad greens and, in many instances, ethnic crops from the countries from which they emigrated.

At REC’s YouthGROW farm on Oread Street, the nonprofit is taking advantage of a Natural Resources Conservation Service program that significantly extends the growing season.

The high tunnel or hoop house looks like a greenhouse, with the difference being that crops are planted and grown in the ground. These unheated greenhouses provide protection from the elements and offer a production system that poses less risk of crop failure.

Daniel Kenthall, the NRCS district conservationist for Worcester and Middlesex counties, said the program offered in 16 states with Agricultural Management Assistance funding gives priority to cities and high-density suburban areas.

Most of the high tunnels are between 2,000- and 3,000-square feet; cost about $10,000 to $12,000; and are located on qualified sites where there is a defined farming operation, Mr. Lenthall said.

He said REC received approval under the Environmental Quality Incentive program that preceded the AMA program announced in early April and is the only one in the city built with federal funding.

“Crops have to be grown in the ground and the idea is to extend the growing season, starting crops in the early spring, replanting in mid-summer to grow crops throughout the fall,” he said.

Mr. Lenthall said most farmers choose to grow crops such as tomatoes, salad greens, raspberries, noting that crops like squash and pumpkins take up too much room and have a targeted seasonal market.

The goal is to facilitate growing fresh produce in urban neighborhoods. That means soil safety and soil quality are a major concern. The soil is tested for contaminants such as lead that could be taken up by the produce, he said.

At the YouthGROW Farm, Grace Sliwoski, YouthGROW program coordinator, said the farm is one of REC’s four food justice programs that began in 2003.

“The half-acre Oread Street site was an Earth Day cleanup location for many years and like many empty lots in the city was a convenient dumping ground. It would get cleaned up and then trashed, cleaned up and trashed again,” Ms. Sliwoski said.

REC volunteers and staff who were alumni of the food project decided to transform it into a community garden. What started as an informal operation developed over time into a formal program where teens learn about farming and work for stipends.

She said the property is owned by Sem-Tec Inc.; REC is allowed to use it at no cost.

Ms. Sliwoski said soil contaminated with lead was removed and replaced with fertile soil which is supplemented annually with free compost delivered by the city's department of public works.

Casey Burns, REC food justice program director, said the portion of the lot upon which the hoop house was built had been left vacant, again because of lead contamination.

“When we were approved for funding for the hoop house, we put down industrial-grade landscape fabric, gravel, more landscape fabric, and then soil,” Ms. Burns said.

She added, “And getting NRCS funding for the high tunnel was the catalyst for finding the resources to do the site prep. The cost of removing large chunks of concrete foundation and cleaning up and prepping the site was greater than the cost of the hoop house itself.”

Built last July, this will be the first year the hoop house will be used to grow crops, with tomatoes planted in the next week or so. Cucumbers and ginger will follow.

While other farms use hoop houses to grow specialty greens, Ms. Burns said crops grown at YouthGROW are basic.

“We are more of a food security, food accessibility program, and are not looking at growing high-priced niche items,” she said.

Elsewhere on the half-acre, this year’s crops will include kale, eggplant, corn, squash, garlic, spinach, scallions and snow peas.

Ms. Burns explained that all of the produce from the YouthGROW sites goes to REC’s mobile farmer’s market which serves senior centers, community centers and low-income public housing sites providing produce at affordable prices.

In addition to vegetables, the YouthGROW farm also has cherry and pear trees, a raspberry patch, and will be adding two apple trees this year.

REC supports about 60 community gardens throughout the city and together those gardens produce about 15,000 pounds of food a year.

Amanda Barker, founder of Nuestro Huerto farm on Southgate Street and owner of Cotyledon Farm in Leicester, said REC has a longstanding presence in the city and that has helped legitimize urban farming and coordinate some of the resources necessary to make it happen.

“Because soil testing beyond the presence of lead can be expensive, and because there is no site history for many of the garden sites, the most cost-effective method has been to grow crops on raised beds,” she said.

Citing her experience with developing the Nuestro Huerto community garden on Camp Street, she said, “We didn’t know what to test for and couldn’t afford to do appropriate testing because the site had been back-filled with material for which there was no information about potential contamination.”

She said the proposed urban agriculture ordinances and regulations currently being considered by the Planning Board would require those growing crops and selling them at a farmers’ market or farm stand, to certify the soil on which the crops were grown to be lead-free.

She described the three-year process of developing urban agriculture regulations and zoning amendments as “slow, almost painful.”

She described some of what’s been proposed as overly restrictive and lacking any mechanism for accountability.

“In some instances, I think it’s simply a lack of understanding of what constitutes urban agriculture. There’s not going to be a city employee who makes the rounds of community gardens every year and checks for compliance,” the Leicester farmer said.

As for the future of urban agriculture in the city, she said she would not be surprised to find entrepreneurs and venture capitalists filling the niche, citing the Freight Farms project at Clark University as an example.

“In Kelowna, British Columbia there is a farmer, Curtis Stone, who is earning $75,000 a year by growing micro-greens and high-dollar vegetables on less than an acre of land,” she said.

Ms. Barker said urban farming in Worcester to date has been more of a social enterprise and its success is not measured in dollars but in education and achievement. “People want to grow their own food and many come from places where they did just that. It’s a cultural and social need not tied to money, rather to grow familiar crops for family, friends and neighbors,” she said.

Stuart Loosemore, general counsel and director of government affairs and public policy for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the organization fully supports current urban agriculture initiatives.

The Chamber and the Regional Environmental Council have collaborated with funding from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts to run the Worcester Regional Food Hub, a program designed to improve the regional food system by strengthening sustainable agriculture, promoting healthy eating, and fueling economic development.

Mr. Loosemore said, “Growing food is part of the economy of the city, so codifying urban agriculture regulations just makes sense.”

“It may not result in the development of full-scale, for-profit, urban farms but it gives people a chance to grow produce; sell what they grow at farm stands; and have greater access to healthy, locally-grown food,” he added.

He cited REC’s YouthGROW program as a prime example of the union of farming and entrepreneurial skills.

“These kids help prepare the soil, plant the seeds, and cultivate the plants. They grow a lot of hot peppers and they use those peppers and to make, bottle and sell their own hot sauce,” he said.

Mayor Joseph M. Petty said the proposed urban agriculture regulations developed over a period of several years reflect a desire to allow farming in the city without any negative impact on the neighborhoods.

“This brings fresh food to the people and those who grow it will be able to apply for farmstand permits to sell what they grow. We don’t want a farmstand on every corner of every street in the city, but overall I think this will have a good impact on the community,” the mayor said.

Sarai Rivera, District 4 councilor, said urban farming has been part of the landscape of city neighborhoods for awhile and believes the proposed regulations will be helpful in the collaboration between growers and the city.

As for the importance of locally-grown produce, she said having access to healthful, affordable food is a priority.

“You can buy Ramen noodles, five for a dollar, but buying spinach, kale, green beans, or any fresh produce costs a lot more than a dollar. Urban farms provide not only the access but prices that low-income people can afford and pay for with SNAP benefits,” Ms. Rivera said.

Aside from the health benefits of locally-grown produce, she said there are also economic development benefits with urban farming a source of jobs, and community gardens as a source of income for produce sold at farmers’ markets and farmstands.

The councilor said the Planning Board will consider the proposed regulations once it comes back to the council she is optimistic there will be a basis for consensus.

“In the interim, I hope council members take the opportunity to get out and visit the urban farms, the community gardens; ask questions and see for themselves the benefits of what’s happening,” she said.