What’s in store for the future of urban agriculture in NYC? How can the city do more to support local food production?

Tonight is your chance to find out! Council Member Rafael Espinal is co-hosting a town hall to discuss urban farming issues at Brooklyn Borough Hall, located at 209 Joralemon Street, at 6 PM.

Local farming plays an important role in the neighborhood’s food supply, environment, and local economy. But it’s getting harder to preserve. Community gardens are shuttering and developers seem eager to take over any tract of land they can get their hands on. Luckily, a coalition of elected officials, advocates, and others have launched a campaign to work with the city to increase access to urban farming.

Urban agriculture could also help alleviate the food access issue in the neighborhood, a topic that Bushwick Daily has covered in the past. One out of every five Bushwick residents is “food insecure,” which means they have a lack of reliable access to enough food for a healthy lifestyle. Urban farming plays an important role in solving this problem, but not just because of the food that’s produced.

Studies have shown that it’s nutritional knowledge, not access to healthy foods, that is one of the biggest contributing factors to healthy eating. By giving residents the chance to grow their own fresh produce, community agricultural spaces, like Riseboro’s Bushwick Grows! Community Farm and the urban farms that Council Member Espinal and the rest of the task force are trying to support, play an important role in improving food literacy.

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Cover image courtesy of Peter Feghali