During the holiday season, food is often central to the celebration. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people are experiencing hunger for the first time, and food insecurity has become a daily reality for many. Today, we’re talking about what some say is a practical solution to rising hunger—urban agriculture and the policies that shape and support it.

If you live in the Bay Area and are experiencing hunger this holiday season, check out these resources that may be able to offer help:

• (San Jose) West Valley Community Services (https://www.wvcommunityservices.org/)
• (Berkeley) Berkeley Food Pantry (https://www.berkeleyfoodpantry.org/)
• (Peninsula) San Francisco-Marin Food Bank (https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/)
• (Oakland/Alameda) Alameda County Food Bank (https://www.accfb.org/)
• (Richmond) Richmond Emergency Food Pantry (http://www.refp.org/)

If you live outside the Bay, you can visit https://www.feedingamerica.org to find your nearest food bank.

Transcript

Speaker 1: [00:00:10] Samantha, there's been much talk in recent years about global warming. What is your position, and what do you think we as Americans should do?

Speaker 2: [00:00:18] What do you say we all work together to end world hunger?

Colleen: [00:00:24] Today we're talking about hunger, but we're taking it out of the realm of beauty pageant tropes.

Reem: [00:00:31] We are focusing on urban agriculture. Some hold it up alongside the eat local and slow food movements as a real answer to solving hunger on a community level.

Colleen: [00:00:41] But it also has its critics.

Reem: [00:00:44] We'll get to them, too. So put on some shoes. You don't mind getting dirty and some overalls if you have them. We are going farming. I'm Reem Rayef.

Colleen: [00:00:53] And I'm Colleen Pulawski. This is Talk Policy To Me.

Reem: [00:01:00] Let's start by clarifying what we're talking about when we say urban agriculture. We don't necessarily mean a plot of green in the middle of a bustling city, although that definitely does qualify.

Colleen: [00:01:11] Urban agriculture refers to a wide range of things, including backyard and rooftop gardens, community gardens and small scale farms. The food we're talking about isn't sold to Chipotle or Safeway. It tends to stay in the community in which it is grown.

Reem: [00:01:28] I'm curious, Colleen, have you ever grown your own food?

Colleen: [00:01:31] I actually have. So when I was born, my mom and dad owned and ran an organic farm in upstate New York. So farming is kind of in my blood. And when we were little, my mom would always give us our own mini pot, and we could grow whatever we wanted in it. But as an adult, I really only lived in urban places, but I've pretty much always had a little container garden or a backyard plot to grow tomatoes and greens and herbs and things like that.

Reem: [00:01:55] I'm not a gardener myself, but I have lived with very gifted gardeners. My dad has maintained a little pot of veggies in our house for as long as I can remember where he grows the spiciest peppers known to man. And my current housemate in Berkeley has dedicated our backyard to different varieties of cucumbers, which I really love.

Colleen: [00:02:12] So our reporter Michelle Pitcher told us that she absolutely has never grown her own food. She said she's still scarred from an incident as a kid when she tried to grow a carrot for a school project, but the backyard rabbits sabotaged her.

Reem: [00:02:26] Such a tough break. Michelle spoke with someone who has a little more experience than she does in the gardening realm. Laney Siegner, who just got her doctorate from UC Berkeley. She's an expert in school gardens and farm based education settings.

Michelle: [00:02:49] Can you tell me why urban agriculture piqued your interest? Why was that the avenue that you chose to go down?

Laney: [00:02:56] I actually worked with middle school students prior to coming to Berkeley for my Ph.D.. I was an eighth grade teaching fellow in Boston as part of a AmeriCorps program, so I was working with eighth graders in Boston, and one of the most successful things I did with them was get them to help me start a school garden in collaboration with a first grade classroom. With food security being such a prevalent issue of concern for my students. It was a really rewarding educational experience and it made me want to research that further when I came to grad school. So I was particularly focused on urban agriculture and also in smaller rural schools. On how to utilize best in school garden resources as a teaching tool and as a food security resource. I really felt like both I and my students were disconnected from our food sources in many ways. I was really sort of surprised by how awesome and possible it is to grow a lot of food in small spaces in urban areas, and then what a resource that can be because it's so hard to find good, organic, affordable food in a lot of urban areas where there are food deserts, where it's maybe too expensive or not possible to get high quality organic produce in stores, especially in, you know, colder climates in the winter, it can be really limited. And so urban agriculture was this amazing opportunity to both connect the dots in the food system between producers and consumers and also make food accessible and available and nutritious food in a place where it is not often accessible and available and affordable.

Michelle: [00:04:33] So I am very new to the world of urban agriculture. So I'm originally from Texas, and when you think of agriculture, you think of large scale. So if I heard the term urban agriculture like backyard farming, I would think that I could just go out and plant some veggies in my backyard and subsist. But sort of what, what does it actually mean and what are the models that people who really rely on urban agriculture are following?

Michelle: [00:05:00] It's very broadly defined, both urban agriculture and what a lot of people are now talking about with urban agro ecology being just a more sort of holistic term to differentiate what's happening in urban spaces from large scale agriculture and align it more with the science practice and movement ethic of agroecology. That's really taking an ecosystem approach to considering urban areas as parts of nature and bringing biodiversity of plants, of insect pollinators, of of people together in these urban growing spaces. But really in both cases, when people use those terms, they're talking about backyard gardens, they're talking about community gardens where individual households or people might have plots that is supported by the city itself, by the Parks and Rec department in many cases. And then school gardens are a part of it and everything up to small commercial operations, which I found to be less common in the East Bay. But there are people that are growing food on slightly larger plots than a backyard garden, so maybe like a half an acre to an acre or more in a few cases, but pretty small scale, but growing a diversity of vegetables and flowers and sometimes also chickens, goats, small livestock and and selling what they produce to their local community, whether it's through a CSA or direct to restaurants and small and food businesses. Not a lot of urban agriculture produce is being sold in small stores or the corner stores or supermarkets. That's typically not the retail outlet, but it is in most cases going pretty directly to consumers pretty quickly. So in that case, you're getting fresh and nutritious produce and in almost all cases it's pesticide free and organically produced. Whether or not those sites are certified organic.

Michelle: [00:06:52] Do you see this as like a solution to hunger? Do you think that it's like viable for someone facing food insecurity to try to grow their own food, or is it more of like the community effort? I'm just curious, like how you see this playing into food insecurity?

Michelle: [00:07:10] I think urban agriculture is like a fundamental tool at the disposal of hunger, relief organizers, agencies, policymakers and individuals. And I think it's a really critical part of food sovereignty. And if you're living in a city and you have either no income or low income, like to be able to have space and access to grow your own food and the foods that you want to grow for cultural reasons or medical reasons or nutritional needs, that feels like a fundamental human right. And I think whether many individuals who are low income in food insecure might not have the time and capacity to act. Participate in growing their own food because they're working multiple jobs or supporting a family or a variety of reasons. But to have access to food that is grown locally by community members or people from within their communities is a really powerful solution to to hunger and food insecurity. We concluded our paper titled Does Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security with the kind of halfway conclusion of like, Yes, it can do that, but it doesn't always do that and it really matters how it set up and whether urban agriculture spaces are actually protected parts of the city or whether they're just like ad hoc, volunteer based come and go vulnerable to development and being paved over at any moment. Like in those cases, it really might not be able to improve food security in a fundamental way, but in places where it's protected, safeguarded. Part of city policy, part of the Parks and Rec department, it can be a real solution. So it just really depends. It can happen with or without an equity lens and with or without intention and structure. It has a lot of potential and just needs to be protected and supported.

Reem: [00:08:53] That's an important distinction. Policy plays a huge role in how these gardens are run and how fruitful they can ultimately be.

Colleen: [00:09:01] It really matters whether a city supports small scale farming and its zoning policies or parks and rec programs, or whether it puts up a lot of red tape.

Reem: [00:09:10] Here in the Bay Area. We found an example of one of the places that's doing this really well. Our reporter Elena Neale-Sacks spoke with her colleague at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism about the urban farm movement in Richmond, California.

Cameron: [00:09:26] My name is Cameron Nielson. I am a first year student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and I'm currently reporting for Richmond Confidential, where I did a story about how urban agriculture is helping fight food insecurity in Richmond, California.

Elena: [00:09:43] Can you summarize that story for our listeners?

Cameron: [00:09:47] Yeah. So basically, because of the pandemic, there's been a lot more businesses shutting down and a lot more unemployment. So there's a lot more food insecurity nationwide, but especially in communities that have high populations of Black and Latinx people such as Richmond specifically, I looked at organizations like Urban Tilth and then other organizations that are providing seeds to residents and then also residents that are taking it into their own hands and using like vacant lots to grow food. And so what I found is that like a lot of urban farms like Urban Tilth have risen up to the occasion during the pandemic and are providing like six times as much food to residents in the West Richmond area as they were before the pandemic. And this is through a program sponsored by the USDA where they're giving out grants for farmers to provide food directly to the community members and provide subsidized food so that people that can afford it can have access to local organic food. And then there's another initiative called Richmond's Lending Seed Library. I think that's how you see it. And they are providing seeds for free to any Richmond residents that want seeds. And they ended up giving out 20,000 seeds to residents to start their own gardens. There's been a huge push in Richmond and in other cities around the country to like try to utilize local agriculture for fighting food insecurity because especially in crisis like COVID 19, there is the supply chain that gets food from a farm in front of somebody like gets really disrupted because it has to go from the food and then get transported and then go to the distributor. And then so it has to go through all these hoops in order to get to the consumer. Whereas when consumers can go directly to their own local farms, it's a lot simpler of a way of getting food to people. So I think that it's going to be the future, hopefully, of getting food directly from our farms and not having to go through this crazy distribution chain that we have in our food system right now.

Elena: [00:12:19] And what drew you to this specific story in the first place?

Cameron: [00:12:23] I've always had a fascination with food because I feel like it kind of connects all of us. We all eat food every day. And so I feel like that's this kind of thread throughout human existence when we all have our differences, it's like something that we all rely on, you know, no matter what your views are. So I felt like it was a really important topic, especially in a time. Where people are struggling and not eating enough food. I felt like I wanted to report on the food system and I guess I wanted to report it in a way that was like a solutions based approach of like how to fight food insecurity. Because I feel like there's a lot of stories out there that are about how bad the problem is, but not about how we can change it.

Elena: [00:13:08] What are some of the climate and environmental benefits of, you know, if we got this sort of like urban farming to be done on a larger scale?

Cameron: [00:13:19] Agriculture is actually one of the main contributors to climate change, especially through livestock production on large scales. But if we leaned on local agriculture and small local agriculture that uses regenerative practices, you can actually sequester carbon into the soil through agriculture. So instead of being a contributor to climate change, agriculture could actually help reverse climate change in a way.

Elena: [00:13:49] So throughout the course of your reporting, was there anything that surprised you either about urban tilth or urban farming more generally, or food insecurity in Richmond and the Bay Area during the pandemic?

Cameron: [00:14:02] There's a lot of vacant lots enrichments and in Oakland and places around the Bay Area. And I was wondering like what people are doing with that space. You know, and I found that, like some people are actually using those vacant lots to, like, grow food. And then what's really cool about using vacant lots to grow food is not only does it provide food to people, but it actually creates a space to create community in areas that might be a little more low income and not have places where there's the where there's nature and where you can connect to your food system. And it actually creates a place where, like people can come volunteer on a space and learn about food and create connections. And especially like in COVID 19, where like a lot of the things we have to do is outside. That's a good place of being able to have some sense of community through agriculture.

Reem: [00:15:02] I do love the positive environmental spillover effects of smaller scale food production. I can't say my weekly Trader Joe's trips are as good for the environment.

Colleen: [00:15:11] Definitely, regenerative agricultural practices are almost unheard of in the current food production system. And to put it simply, large scale food production is about as bad for the environment as it could possibly be.

Reem: [00:15:25] So this all sounds great. If we all just plant some vegetables in our backyards, we'll have done it. No more hunger.

Colleen: [00:15:31] If only there are actually a ton of reasons why urban agriculture and backyard farms may not be the magic solution. And like Laney said, many people don't have access to land to grow things on. They may work multiple jobs or have other responsibilities. Growing food is not easy or quick.

Reem: [00:15:50] So this reminds me of a book called Pressure Cooker Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It. It came out in 2019 and it pushed back against the idea that individuals should or even can take on this responsibility of growing and preparing all their own food.

Colleen: [00:16:08] I love that book. The authors are personal heroes of mine. Before reading their research, I was a big proponent of the let's get back to the kitchen line of thought peddled by folks like Michael Pollan as the solution to our food system issues. But these authors make it abundantly clear that it is just not that simple. They spent years with dozens of families and take readers into these family's home kitchens to tell the complicated story of what it takes to feed a family in the U.S. today. And what we learn is that if we want a fair, just and sustainable food system, we have got to start looking outside of the kitchen for answers. We need to prioritize collectivity in our food system rather than taking an individualistic approach to solving food crises. And that's where our community is. Our social networks and local governing bodies come into play.

Reem: [00:17:00] Right? The truth is that for most people, the simplest and most accessible solution to hunger is still their local food bank.

Colleen: [00:17:07] Great example. So let's actually throw it back to Michelle, who spoke to someone from a food bank in San Jose that has experienced a record breaking number of new people signing up for their services during the pandemic.

Michelle: [00:17:26] Just to start, if you wouldn't mind starting by introducing yourself.

Sujata: [00:17:30] My name is Sujata Venkatraman and I am the Associate executive director at Best Valley Community Services.

Michelle: [00:17:37] I learned that y'all have had just like a massive increase in need. So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that, particularly as it relates to hunger in your food programs.

Sujata: [00:17:48] Even pre-COVID, we were seeing an increase and that has been a steady increase that our agency has seen year over year. But COVID just changed everything and people are still coming to us and need for food. And we saw it across the board. These were people who had jobs, who did not need our services in the past because their income was enough to sustain their families or themselves. We saw students, we saw an increase in college students wanting services. We had to do programs or increase our food to the two community colleges that we support. We also saw a lot of seniors who were struggling in the past were now struggling more because maybe a family member came back and started living with them because they were now supporting other people. And so family compositions changed during COVID. People's need for food also changed.

Michelle: [00:18:38] I was wondering if you had any ideas of what we could do as individuals, but also what policy changes might need to occur in order to make it so that people don't have to backyard farm and your services don't have to exist?

Sujata: [00:18:55] I think we have to do a lot of things collectively. There is no one solution to ending hunger, right? And just say there's no one solution to ending homelessness or ending poverty. You have to have multiple solution. So yes, farming and urban farming and teaching people how to grow their vegetable is one kind of service in this spectrum of it. But we have to do everything.

Reem: [00:19:21] Cameron brought up an interesting point during his talk with Elena. He said there's room for food banks and urban farms to work together.

Cameron: [00:19:30] I guess what I found interesting was that because of state and federal regulations, the food banks can't work directly with farms because of food health safety protocols. And so I hope that in the future that the food banks and the local farms can find a way of collaborating with each other to try to break down these barriers of getting healthy food to people that need it the most. So I hope that we can change some policies that so that the local farms and food banks can work together more.

Colleen: [00:20:06] That seems to be the common tagline. Urban agriculture can work, but it can't work alone.

Reem: [00:20:17] Unfortunately, we did not solve world hunger in this episode. Maybe next time. But we do hope these solutions based conversations will continue.

Colleen: [00:20:25] And we hope you and your family have enough food on the table this holiday season. We've included some links in the show notes to organizations in the Bay Area that can help fill the gap. If you need somewhere to turn.

Colleen: [00:20:36] Talk policy To Me is a co-production of the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans and UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.

Reem: [00:20:55] Our executive producers are Bora Lee Reed and Sarah Swanbeck.

Colleen: [00:20:59] Editing for this episode by Elena Neale-Sacks.

Reem: [00:21:02] The music you heard today is by Blue Dot Sessions and Pat Mesiti-Miller. I'm Reem Rayef.

Colleen: [00:21:07] And I'm Colleen Pulawski, catch you next time.