Urban Farming Presentation – Growing Food and Communities

Posted on January 24, 2011 by in Community Development, Food Systems, Urban Farming and Gardening // 0 Comments

Urban farms taking root: Organic farming meeting learns communities can grow with good food (by Cathy Woodruff – TimesUnion.com)

EXCERPT: Urban agriculture is about more than growing food, and growing food is about a lot more than farming and gardening, the leader of a Detroit coalition told a statewide organic farming conference on Saturday.

“We’re not just growing food. We are growing communities as well,” said Malik Yakini, who chairs the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. “We’re a post-industrial city that is struggling to find its way,” and “urban agriculture is playing a role in that….”

During his speech, Yakini, 55, touched on the challenges in trying to interest young people and African-Americans — who make up a majority of Detroit’s population — in growing food.