Opinion

Zoning can boost urban agriculture's renaissance On Urban Farming

Slow Food Victory Garden at Civic Center. Slow Food Victory Garden at Civic Center. Photo: Blair Randall Unknown Photo: Blair Randall Unknown Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Zoning can boost urban agriculture's renaissance 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A renaissance is happening right here in San Francisco. Next week, the Board of Supervisors will have the opportunity to approve an urban agriculture zoning proposal that would revise city planning code to welcome vegetable gardens in all areas of the city and provide the ability to sell produce from those gardens. The spirit and intent of the ordinance represent a giant leap forward for urban farmers who yearn for a simpler, more hybrid urban lifestyle that combines traditional city living with more agrarian sustainable food practices.

Most important, the new ordinance will legitimize the production and sale of locally grown produce and end the permitting issues that have long plagued small-scale urban farmers here in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.

Urban agriculture and urban farms are about much more than planting a few tomato plants in a backyard. These enterprises create jobs and build life skills for people in need; they enhance the urban environment and make it safer; they provide food security and foster community; they give San Franciscans who participate a sense of ownership and pride in their city.

All across San Francisco, spontaneous vegetable and fruit gardens and micro-farms provide the evidence that the urban farming model works. The Quesada Gardens Initiative, born in 2002 when Annette Young Smith and the late Karl Paige began planting flowers and vegetables around a blighted Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, flourishes today with the support of the surrounding community.

Alemany Farm, a former 4.5-acre illegal dumping site, is now a unique, community-based collaboration to put at-risk low-income youth to work transforming the vacant lot into an urban farm.

The list goes on and on, and the newly formed San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance has emerged to help coordinate and accelerate their efforts.

Whether it's job creation, food security, beautification, environmental sustainability or community cooperation, the benefits of locally grown produce in our urban environment are tangible and nothing short of miraculous. We have an amazing opportunity with the Urban Agriculture Ordinance to germinate local urban farms and to cultivate a truly sustainable San Francisco.