Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed partners with CAES to establish a farm across from City Hall

Summary

Mayor Kasim Reed issued a Sustainability Report in which he vows “to bring local food within 10 minutes of 75 percent of all residents by 2020". He envisions establishing a working farm across from City Hall to showcase how food is grown and to train anyone to do the same in their backyards, frontyards, and neighborhood lots. UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences was asked to partner with the City of Atlanta for this project.

Situation

According to the USDA Food Desert Locater, fifty percent of Atlanta is a food desert where people lack access to fresh food. Typically people in these areas eat from local fast food restaurants and convenience stores. They tend to be obese from eating this high caloric food. There is a movement in urban areas to estasblish farms and community gardens as a means to provide fresh food to the underserved. In addition, Atlanta has a high unemployment rate (10.4%) and many homeless.Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed conducted a design competition for the farm to establish a plan.

Response

The UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is partering with the City of Atlanta to assist the Mayor in establishing a working farm to conduct training in growing food, nutrition. CAES did the soil testing to determine whether the site was suitable for food production. Working the U.S. EPA, the site declared free of contaminants. However the soil pH is 8.1 and needs remediation to grow most fruits and vegetables. Dean Scott Angle, a soil scientist, proposed to develop a plan to remediate the soil for food production.

Impact

The City Hall farm site will be planted in the spring based on the winning design from a state competition. The soil will be amended according to recommendations from Dean Angle. Once the farm is established, CAES will conduct training programs in urban farming and community gardening and nutrition. As more people establish community gardens to grow food,food insecurity in Atlanta will diminish.

State Issue

Agricultural Profitability and Sustainability

Details

• Year: 2011
• Geographic Scope: Multi-County
• County: Fulton
• Program Areas:
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources