I. INTRODUCTION

Philadelphia is fortunate to have a robust tradition of urban agriculture, rooted in BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee growers and communities who have nurtured the city for generations. Here, urban agriculture is Bhutanese refugees cultivating Thai roselle in South Philadelphia; beehives in Mount Airy; elders and youth tending an 80-year-old garden in Grays Ferry; thousands of pounds of produce shared with families who do not have enough to eat; young people selling vegetables to neighbors in Kensington, Mantua, Kingsessing, and North Philadelphia; residents across the entire city stewarding abandoned land as a response to disinvestment and structural racism; fruit trees and berry bushes tended by and feeding residents and passersby; thousands of gallons of stormwater managed; and a network of farmers—across race, class, gender, and generations—supplying food shares, farmers’ markets, businesses, and restaurants. Beyond the food itself, urban agriculture in Philadelphia, and in our local food system, can mean community food sovereignty: the ability to choose what nourishes you and your community.

Growing from the Root addresses the systems, structures, resources, and policies necessary to sustain and grow urban agriculture in Philadelphia and nurture a more just local food system. It is Philadelphia’s first urban agriculture plan, co-created with Philadelphia farmers, gardeners, and urban agriculture advocates. The purpose of the plan is to:

> Uplift Philadelphia’s rich history of urban farming and gardening and establish a plan in which urban agriculture contributes to the equitable development of Philadelphia over the long-term

> Confront the legacy of structural racism and land-based oppression in the city

> Establish a 10-year framework for investing in and supporting agriculture and food justice, and identify pathways and opportunities for the City and affiliated partners to support new and existing urban agriculture projects, including community gardens, market farms, for-profit enterprises, and educational programs

> Outline the resources, policies, processes, and programs necessary to sustain urban agriculture in Philadelphia for future generations

> Clarify the roles that City government, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders should play in supporting urban agriculture, and develop recommendations for implementation and evaluation of the plan

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (Parks & Rec) led the plan’s development, but its success will rely on collaboration between many City agencies, grassroots and nonprofit organizations, philanthropic partners, growers and residents across the city. Parks & Rec is committed to working with its partners within City government and across the city’s urban agriculture community. By implementing this plan, together, and taking into consideration racial and economic equity when establishing food policies and programs, Philadelphia can set the precedent across the country as a just local food system that supports urban agriculture.

Growing from the Root is a plan commissioned by the City and grounded in community organizing. Philadelphia Parks & Recreation worked with community-based partners to co-develop the plan: Soil Generation, a Black and Brown grassroots agroecology coalition of Philadelphia growers and advocates, and Interface Studio, a Philadelphia-based city planning firm. This marked a new approach for Parks & Rec, bringing together planners, community advocates, and City staff (i.e., public service workers) to co-create a roadmap toward a more just local food system. The narrative of the plan reflects the shared authorship; sometimes it echoes the City’s voice, while at other times it captures the voice of Philadelphians who practice and advocate for urban agriculture.

To envision the kind of neighborhoods residents need and drive the change that farmers and gardeners seek, Soil Generation helped shape a culturally competent and equity-based approach to ensure that the residents most impacted by the topics addressed in this plan were engaged and represented throughout the planning process. From the outset, Parks & Rec and the project team committed to designing a process that was racially and economically equitable, accessible, responsive, and resourceful. Building a team that embodied the guiding values of this plan took work, time, and ultimately a break in the planning process to invest in a five-month, anti-racist facilitation process designed by Parks & Rec’s Director of Urban Agriculture, Ash Richards. The team entered the facilitation process to address accountability, white supremacy cultures, and anti-Blackness within the team and restore dignity to the internal process; resolve interpersonal conflict; and reconcile harm through education and guided conversations between Interface Studio and Soil Generation. The facilitators and the process served the project well, and the end product is not only made possible, but stronger for it.

As a community group, being partnered in this process was important to us because we have participated in previous City plans with less than adequate community input. The City’s decision to hire a community group to be partnered contractually with a design firm showed insight and a step in the right direction, but the planning process made us realize how much work is required on our part. During the facilitation process among the team, we centered the importance of naming the emotional labor required to review project work for anti-racism and accessibility. A plan that starts with a racial analysis and ends with a thorough review means taking time to identify steps and processes that ensure we are creating a plan that truly centers racial justice and anti-racism. This also ensures that we are not only accounting for the “invisibilized” labor that Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks do, but also that it is valued.”

—Soil Generation

We thank our partners at Soil Generation for speaking up about team dynamics that were harming team members and the project’s work. We are thankful that Parks & Rec and project funders granted us the time and space to participate in a carefully considered process of education and reconciliation. The facilitated process helped Interface become a better partner, helped build a stronger team, and helped the plan embody the project’s values of centering Black, Brown, and Indigenous voices and applying an anti-racist lens to both the planning process and the end product.”

—Interface Studio

How To Navigate Growing From The Root

Growing from the Root is a ten-year comprehensive plan that will serve as a road map for a thriving local food system and economy, with an urban agricultural foundation. This introductory chapter provides an overview of Philadelphia’s food system, describes urban agriculture in Philadelphia today, and traces the history of agriculture in the city through time. The second chapter documents the public engagement process that shaped the plan, including the communitydriven values, vision, and goals for the future of urban agriculture in Philadelphia. The remaining chapters focus on the elements of the food system: Land, Production, Preparation & Distribution, Consumption, Waste Reduction, and People. Each chapter envisions a new way forward toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable food system. Each food system chapter includes:

> An overview of the topics covered

> Why these topics are important to the food system

> How the City currently interacts with this element of the food system, including information about what is working, critical needs, issues, and challenges

> Potential for change and lessons learned from other cities

> Recommendations for policy, programs, partnerships, projects, and more

Every recommendation has a set of action steps and names the City agencies and partners necessary to implement. The recommendations also address phasing, identifying short-term, mid-term, and longterm priorities. It is important to remember that each chapter featuring a different element of the food system is interrelated with the others. The chapters work together to accomplish the goals of this plan.

A concluding Implementation chapter explores the institutional support and resources needed to take action on the recommendations. Altogether, this plan provides a blueprint for the infrastructure needed to support those who carry out and benefit from the work of urban agriculture in Philadelphia.

LAND & PEOPLE, THREADS THROUGHOUT THE PLAN

Land is central to how farmers and gardeners in Philadelphia understand the local food system and the role of urban agriculture within the food system. People are the driving force, holding and contributing to all elements of the local food system. Connection to land, connection to people through food, and the practice of growing and sharing food are at the heart of why Philadelphians value urban agriculture.

Look out for the two lines that run through the center of this book. They represent land and people —key to understanding every part of the food system.

What To Expect In The Food System Chapters

THE CHAPTER TITLE

Titles For Each Section Of The Chapter

TWO LINES DOWN THE CENTER OF THE BOOK, REPRESENTING LAND AND PEOPLE

QUOTES FROM PARTICIPANTS IN PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

ACCORDING TO LOCAL GROWERS (the people who contribute to our food system)

Urban agriculture is:

> Using the land in a dense city to grow, and using that growth to nourish communities, continuing ancestral knowledge

> Stewardship of the land by and for the people; remediating and improving the land through cultivation

Land is essential—urban agriculture:

> Connects food, land, the environment, and culture across generations

> Reconnects us with the land, nature, ecology, and each other

> Connects us to the land and the food that sustains us, and supports community building and empowerment

> Is a powerful practice in economic, climate, land, and racial justice

> Can help us use land in regenerative, collective, just, and productive ways to mitigate and/or adapt to a changing climate

> Teaches respect for the land, understanding of where food comes from and supports healthy and sustainable living

> Sustains our communities spiritually, emotionally, and nutritionally, teaching us to take care of our land and each other.

How To Read The Recommendations

BOXES WITH CASE STUDIES, LOCAL PROFILES, AND MORE INFORMATION

Production Recommendations

PRIORITY RECOMMENDATIONS are marked with an X

The following recommendations aim to eliminate existing barriers and increase support for making significant investments in food production spaces, establish new public programs and resources for growers and growing spaces, create a more inclusive and equitable city culture around food production practices, and ease burdensome regulations on food production. The recommendations support three main objectives:

> Ground Philadelphia’s Urban Farming Programs and Practices in Agroecology

> Make Physical Improvements to Growing Spaces More Feasible

> Support Safe and Appropriate Animal Keeping

TYPE OF CHANGE includingadministrativeactions, legislativechange,operations changes,budgetingadjustments, andpartnerships.Recommendations thatarecurrentlyunfundedwillneed togothroughthestandardbudget processtoreceiveCityfunds.

AGENCY & PARTNERS with the lead agencies listed first and partners next

TIMELINE neededtoaccomplish the recommendation, includingshort-term (onetotwoyears), medium-term(threeto fiveyears),andlongterm(sixtotenyears)

WHAT IS VOLUNTARY TO A TRIBAL NATION?

Such a payment is a continually debt paid in acknowledgment expropriation and genocide, opportunity that can be exchange for services.

Ground Philadelphia’s Urban Farming Programs and Practices in Agroecology and Develop Resources, Facilities, and Partnerships that Directly Support Agriculture Activities in Philadelphia

2.1 Establish an Office of Urban Agriculture within the Department of Parks and Recreation to provide centralized support for growers, and coordinate with City agencies and partners to implement the plan and track progress.

Increase the number of permanent positions dedicated to local food production and policy, and advocate for and implement urban agriculture related programs and policies.

Administer an operational budget for Parks & Recreation’s Farm Philly program to expand and sustain its programs, including but not limited to improving, expanding, or relocating the Carousel House Farm (i.e., Parks & Rec’s public education and production farm).

Engage directly with gardeners and farmers to provide information about, including, but not limited to, accessing land, education and training programs, permitting, zoning, soil safety, ongoing maintenance responsibilities, and free or low cost resources.

Manage a Land Access Program that would provide long-term affordable leases on public park land for growers citywide. For more, see Land recommendation 1.1

Administrative Parks & Rec, Mayor's Office, City Council, Finance, Office of Sustainability

Budget City Council, Finance, Parks & Rec

Budget City Council, Finance, Parks & Rec

Operations Parks & Rec, Office of Sustainability, School District, Nonprofits, Grassroots Organizations

Short-Term

Short-Term

Medium-Term

Short-Term

Administrative Parks & Rec Medium-Term

Wonderingaboutanacronymorthedefinitionoftermssuchas agroecology,foodsovereignty,andrematriation? SEE APPENDIX C.

Build relationships to explore opportunities for Cultural Heritage Conservation Easements and agreements, which would allow for Native American and Indigenous access to park land for cultural purposes (e.g., foraging, ceremonies, gatherings). Work with the Lenni-Lenape communities located in Pennsylvania, Delaware, the Ramapough Lenape Nation in New Jersey, the Delaware Tribe in Oklahoma, and the Delaware

Tribes of the diaspora in Wisconsin and Canada, as well as other Indigenous groups to promote Native/ Indigenous food sovereignty and traditional food ways and agriculture practices within the city.

Study best practices from other cities that have established a practice of paying a voluntary land tax to local Indigenous nations or organizations in recognition of current access to

Short-Term

Operations Parks & Rec, Indigenous leaders and communities

CASE STUDY: SOGOREA TE LAND TRUST, Sogorea Te Land Trust is land trust led by Indigenous the San Francisco Bay Area return Indigenous land to and Karkin Ohlone people. demonstrates how CLTs or “rematriate” land back communities. Sogorea Te from the legacies of colonialism At the Lisjan farm site, Indigenous cultivate traditional and alongside fruits and vegetables rainwater catchment system gallons of potable water also accepts a Shuumi Land annual contribution that people living on traditional territory make to support trust.