On a sunny May afternoon, Alan Crossley tends his backyard “farm” in the Tenney-Lapham neighborhood to the tune of his four chickens — the maximum number allowed under city of Madison ordinance — squawking away in their coop.

He has held off on planting his tomatoes but says the time is about right to add those to an already full garden of broccoli, spinach, salad greens, carrots and peppers, among a variety of other vegetables.

“For me, at least, it’s all about being able to produce at least some of your food in your own backyard and the pride in doing that,” Crossley said.

As a former wildlife biologist for the Department of Natural Resources, Crossley said he is worried people are losing the connection to where their food is grown.

“One of the things we always worried about in resource management is people losing touch with the land,” Crossley said. “I think that urban agriculture is an extension of that. It allows people to be reminded of where their food comes from.”

A city zoning code dating back to 1966 did not support urban agriculture in any setting other than a holding zone — an open area waiting for development. After a rewrite initiated in 2008, the zoning code is ahead of the curve, city zoning administrator Matt Tucker said.

“I think we’re cutting edge,” Tucker said of the current zoning code, which was adopted in 2013.

Behind each Madison backyard chicken coop, community garden and farmers’ market stand is a policy that is friendly toward urban agriculture activities. It doesn't just allow Crossley and others to create mini backyard farms, but could lead to more intensive urban farming projects similar to Troy Gardens.

A 31-acre compound on the north side created long before the new zoning code, Troy Gardens includes a 5-acre CSA farm, restored prairie and mixed-income housing development. With the newer regulations and option for creating a new Urban Agricultural District, a project of this scale and size would be easier from a zoning perspective to recreate with the revised zoning code, Tucker said.

While the framework is there, this is one aspect of the zoning code that is not being utilized.

“We wrote regulations for that, but we haven’t had a customer yet that wanted to do a project like that,” Tucker said.

Urban agriculture advocates, including Center for Resilient Cities executive director Marcia Caton Campbell and food systems planning consultant Martin Bailkey contributed to workgroup discussions, helping city zoning staff create urban agriculture zoning provisions “from scratch,” Tucker said. Few existing models of permissive zoning toward urban agriculture existed when the city was going through the rewrite process.

“Without their participation I have no idea how we would have gotten to this point,” Tucker said.

The current code includes elements like permitting community gardens in every district; making for-profit urban agriculture ventures, like a proposed market garden within the Galaxie apartment building, more easily attainable; and allowing limited production and processing facilities like the Food Enterprise and Economic Development (FEED) Kitchens.

It also permits the keeping of chickens and honeybees within city limits, practices that are growing more popular, according to city treasurer licensing data.

From 2004 to May 2015, the number of residents licensed to keep chickens increased from 12 to 225. Beekeeping licenses have increased from 44 in 2012 to 93 as of May 10.

Cultivating in the community

Marta Staple and her family are a part of the growing number of backyard chicken owners.

Along with four chickens — named after first ladies Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan and Rosalynn Carter — the Staple family also maintains an active garden. Staple said they are planting more pickable produce like raspberries and tomatoes, so their two young children can be engaged with the growing process.

“At the heart of it was the idea that we should be acquainted with our food sources and to raise our children to know that food is a process you can be included in,” Staple said. “It’s empowering to have your own food source.”

Madison officials are aware that while many garden to supplement their daily diet, others are farming in cities for sustenance.

Food Policy Council member Satya Rhodes-Conway, a former alder, said the group is working to promote food access and security in the city. Edible landscaping is a recent initiative that allows residents to plant fruit and nut trees on city property, increasing the amount of food growing space.

The Food Policy Council will be reviewing an initiative from the mayor that aims to create more economic opportunities in urban agriculture by extending the growing season with the use of hoop houses, allowing the sale of produce from community gardens and permitting farm stands in certain areas of the city that would be more accessible for residents. This initiative would also take inventory of all city-owned land to explore options for new community gardens and other urban farms.

“Having a plot at the community garden isn’t going to guarantee your food security year round,” Rhodes-Conway said. “But it will help.”

Others have turned a connection to the land — or hive — into businesses.

Nathan Clarke of Mad Urban Bees started his beekeeping operation about 12 years ago. While city ordinances allow up to six hives in an area zoned for residential, Clarke uses a system of host yards to keep a wide network of hives that produce honey in backyards all across Madison.

“It is one more component of how in the city we are tied to our ecosystem,” said Clarke, who is also a member of Madison’s Food Policy Council. “If you want to garden, fantastic, but you also need the pollinator for the crops.”

He keeps over 90 hives within city limits but has over 100 total, including hives outside of the city in municipalities that also allow beekeeping, like Middleton and Monona.

“We need to take care of and cultivate our urban areas in ways to sustain us and provide the food that we need outside of buying on Amazon,” Clarke said.

He sells to local businesses such as Bos Meadery on East Washington Avenue. Owner Colleen Bos described her products as “field-to-glass drinking” and said she values local food for the quality of the product and a reduced carbon footprint.

“Everything I do is trying to cultivate the local community,” Bos said, whether that is through mead or the local music events hosted at the meadery.

TJ DiCiaula and P.T. Bjerke are another pair of Madison urban farmers and business owners. They co-own SuperCharge Foods Wellness Center, Urban Farm and Juice Bar located on East Washington Avenue. DiCiaula and Bjerke grow nutrient-dense microgreens including wheatgrass, pea shoots, sunflowers, arugula, beets and lettuces at their shop.

Before the zoning code rewrite, DiCiaula and Bjerke would not have been able to occupy their current location. The property is classified as a commercial corridor and transition district, and they were able to apply for a conditional use permit as a limited production and processing facility.

“On the city’s side, every time the city sees something new, they’re going to hesitate,” Bjerke said. But throughout the process, Bjerke said there was a “feeling that (the city) wanted to do what they could to help us.”

Prioritizing community gardens

From the city’s perspective, community gardens are a major part of urban agriculture and a focus of the Food Policy Council. They also are the dominant form of urban agriculture, according to a May 2016 Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future report.

Mark Woulf, the city's food and alcohol policy director, said the connection to food is a natural channel to create community. Gardens “essentially create a space to increase that social capital that other park features, that other community-based activities don’t do,” he said.

A newly formed partnership between the city of Madison, Dane County UW Extension and Community GroundWorks supports about 75 gardens in the area by providing resources, information and connecting master gardeners to community gardeners. The Gardens Network is in its second year and replaced the Community Action Coalition’s oversight after it discontinued its garden program in 2014.

Woulf said the network is looking to become more self-sufficient financially and not depend on public dollars, which are subject to appropriation. The city provides $54,000 through its Community Development Block Grant and $25,000 in general funds. Some funding is provided by individual gardens through plot fees.

Woulf said they are also working with Madison’s “funky geography” and limited vacant land space — positive for the city as a whole but not for expanding gardens.

“We have to to be more creative about where to locate gardens,” Woulf said.

The city is looking to relocate the Sheboygan Avenue Community Garden, a former mainstay at the Hill Farms state office building complex for 35 years before it was closed due to a state development project. Rennebohm Park, an alternate location nearby, only has space for about 20 percent of the original garden size, Woulf said.

Community GroundWorks executive director Karen von Huene said land tenure — securing garden space for a long time — is a priority for the network.

Nearly all community gardens on city-owned property are under one 5-year master lease, expiring in 2020, with one automatic renewal. But von Huene said she and others want longer-term land security.

“Let’s try to keep that land, so that people can garden for generations in the same part of the neighborhood,” von Huene said.

Although the lease technically stipulates an end date, Woulf said the city remains committed to setting aside the land.

“Our policy is when we put a garden on city-owned land, it’s not a temporary investment,” Woulf said.

Diversifying the movement

As a Dairy State city that also houses the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a land-grant institution founded for agriculture purposes, Madison has a long history of bringing the farm to the table.

But those tables can be divided. Mariela Quesada Centeno, director of adult programs at Centro Hispano, said there is a lack of representation among people of color within the food system.

“As researchers or leaders within the food system, if you don’t give them the space for (people of color) to come, nothing is ever going to change,” Quesada Centeno said.

While urban agriculture initiatives, especially community gardens, can promote cross-cultural learning, expand cultural competencies, provide opportunities for expressing cultural heritage and enrich community well-being as a whole, they historically have tended to exclude people of color, according to the Center for a Livable Future report.

The report, “Vacant Lots to Vibrant Plots,” cited a number of case studies that found urban farms and gardens have been led by mostly “young, white non-residents in predominantly black and/or Latino neighborhoods, unintentionally excluding people of color from participating in or reaping the benefits of such efforts.”

Initiatives led by lower-income communities also experienced disparities in access to land, government funding and political support compared to efforts led by white and middle-class groups, the report concludes.

Quesada Centeno is working through Centro Hispano’s community garden and market, starting its second season June 7, to involve the Latino community in understanding its role in the food system. She said she hopes the community garden will be an “education pathway,” a platform to offer a wider range of social services through Centro Hispano, and a community gathering space.

On a larger scale, Quesada Centeno argues that people of color feel excluded from Madison’s local economy.

“They see the festivals that happen, they may go with their families, they may buy at the farmers’ market, they may or may not have a community plot. But at the end of the day, that’s not necessarily a part of their culture or who they are,” Quesada Centeno said.

Community leaders like Quesada Centeno are critical in successful urban agriculture initiatives, the Center for a Liveable Future argues. Robert Pierce, manager of the South Madison Farmers’ Market is another strong community presence.

Like Quesada Centeno, Pierce focuses on education. He teaches residents to grow food for themselves and turn a profit if they choose.

“I’d sell it to you, but I’d rather teach you how to grow it,” Pierce said.

He said the south side market, now in its 16th year, arose from a lack of healthy food options in the area. As a farmer, “the bottom line is to make money, too, but I always want to make sure that south Madison is getting access to fresh affordable food,” Pierce said.

Yimmuaj Yang, a Community GroundWorks community garden program assistant, works to promote leadership among individual gardeners and navigate cultural differences. She said in Hmong culture, being labeled as a leader is a responsibility individuals may not want to adopt.

“I’m trying to get these gardeners to feel comfortable to doing more ‘leadership’ activities without being labeled as a leader,” Yang said.

In addition to language barriers and cultural differences among gardeners, Yang said access to resources is another barrier. Gardens in higher-income neighborhoods have more people who can contribute financially to the garden compared to lower-income neighborhoods.

A piece of the food system puzzle

Urban agriculture is just one part of Madison’s food system.

In addition to a variety of farmers’ markets, the newly formed Garden Network partnership and FEED Kitchens, the city’s food ecosystem includes two projects in the works: a proposed $14 million public market and the redevelopment of Garver Feed Mill as a food processing site.

Heather Stouder, a Madison city planner, said she sees the potential for urban agriculture on a greater scale than what is going on.

Due to the cost of land and the amount of space available in the city, Stouder said the future of urban agriculture in the city is to go up — implement efficient vertical farming practices and utilize rooftop farms. She also suggested converting industrial properties on cheaper land to produce more expensive agricultural products like fish and microgreens.

“A lot of the pieces are here and … we’ve created a code that at least allows for a lot of innovation and ideas,” Stouder said.

While Madison’s zoning code may be cutting edge, Bailkey, the food systems planning consultant, contends that the city is not at the forefront of the urban agriculture movement. Rather, he sees Madison’s urban agriculture scene as a subset of the local food movement, arguing that Community Supported Agriculture is much more well known.

“(Madison) is not brimming with urban farms,” Bailkey said. He is a former staff project manager for Growing Power, co-director of the Community & Regional Food Systems Project and a member of Madison’s Food Policy Council.

Bailkey defines urban agriculture as a much more “focused and deliberate activity” and does not include backyard and community gardens, which can vary year to year depending on who is tending the plots.

“To me, an urban farmer is really not different from a traditional farmer,” he said.

Madison lacks an advocacy group focused on promoting urban agriculture like Milwaukee's Growing Power project or Toronto’s Urban Growers. Bailkey said this could be because in Madison, farms are just a quick car or bike ride out of downtown.

Campbell, of the Center for Resilient Cities, said oftentimes cities view urban agriculture space on vacant lots as temporary instead of deliberately creating permanent spaces. Resilient Cities is a Milwaukee- and Madison-based organization that utilizes a land trust model to revitalize and protect urban open spaces for community use.

Neighbors can also push back against intensive gardens which can look messy and smell like compost, although Campbell said she has seen the public’s acceptance of urban agriculture activities growing. She attributes this to heightened attention on the local food movement.

“What Madison has done well (has) helped make land use regulatory environment less restrictive, so that urban agriculture can happen in more spaces and larger scale,” Campbell said.

In Stouder’s mind, there is a supportive community in Madison for future urban agriculture endeavors.

“It seems as if there are barriers, we have a public that is willing to support changes to the zoning code,” Stouder said.

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