The Garden, The Money, and The People
Recently the city council of Cincinnati, Ohio approved the Cincinnati Farms Motion today, advancing an initiative to lease-out underutilized city-owned parcels for agriculture. See http://www.parkandvine.com/?cat=80 This is of course encouraging news for fans of urban agriculture. Empty lots will become productive, and neighbors will have a place to come together and forge and strengthen a community.
But there are perils and pitfalls that face every new venture, and leasing government land to urban farmers is no exception. This is one lesson to be drawn from "The Garden," a film nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. http://www.blackvalleyfilms.com/ Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, The Garden tells the story of a 14 acre community garden in Los Angeles, California. In the wake of the 1992 riots, the city let a group, which came to be known as South Central Farmers, farm on a vacant parcel of city-owned land. The farmers put their hearts and souls into the land, turning it into an oasis in a city known more for freeway driving than food growing. But after a decade of farming, the city told the farmers that they would have to leave.
The reason why has to do with money. The city had title to the property only by virtue of the power of eminent domain, which it had exercised way back in the 1980s, to take the land from a private owner. The city's original purpose was to build an incinerator, but it bowed to neighborhood opposition and the property remained vacant until the 1992 riots. After that, while the farmers farmed the 14 acres, the neighborhood around it changed. Nearby infrastructure development and regional economic growth had made the property a lot more valuable. The original private owner sued the city to return the property to him, since it never built the incinerator that formed the raison d'etre for the city acquiring it to begin with. To the original owner and others, it made no sense to have a farm on such a prime piece of property in the heart of the city. The farmers in turn fought tooth and nail to hold onto their beloved farm, and the dispute raged in the courts and streets for some years. In the end, the farm was sold by the city back to the original owner, who evicted the farmers and bulldozed the property.
The Garden has some lessons for those who seek to promote urban farming. One is money. There are powerful economic forces pushing for the development of urban land to non-agricultural uses. Thanks to the current economic crises, these forces are now held at bay. It is easy for the city to lease vacant parcels for urban farming right now-- nobody else is buying. But consider what the world will look like in five years. If history is any guide, the market will have righted itself and there will be renewed pressure to develop the property for more intense uses. Urban agriculturalists may want to chose their parcels with care. Why is a particular parcel vacant right now? Is it for reasons related to the business cycle? Or is it because of features inherent to the lot?
A second lesson from the Garden has to do with people. Even if community gardeners are not allowed to sell the food they grow, they will still develop an attachment to the land. The emotional attachment the South Central Farmers developed to their 14 acre urban garden is clearly a strong one. Once something is given to a community, it can be emotionally and politically costly to take it away. Today the 14 acre lot remains vacant. But it has come to light that the owner wants to build a warehouse on the land. It's been years since the farmers worked the land at the site, and they now grow their food out of town. But they haven't forgotten the 14 acres, much less given up. A protest is being organized to take place this weekend. http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=368&Itemid=63 Never cross a farmer, especially if you create them.