Students Advise City on Urban Agriculture
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Students in a new class offered by the Huntley College of Agriculture spent the semester studying how the city of Pomona could expand urban agriculture and farming.
The Urban Agriculture Policy and Community Development class worked closely with a local nonprofit, the Institute for Public Strategies, to develop policy recommendations for urban agriculture for the city of Pomona.
Students interviewed local residents and city staff members regarding open space and healthy food access. They presented their recommendations at a Dec. 7 community forum hosted by Mayor Tim Sandoval, which was attended by city officials and more than 40 residents.
The students’ recommendations included:
- Creating community composting centers to engage residents in meeting municipal goals for organic waste reduction
- Legalizing backyard beekeeping
- Utilizing rooftops to grow food and cool local buildings
- Establishing an urban agriculture incentive zone program to give property owners reduced taxes in exchange for allowing vacant lots to be used as community gardens and urban farms
- Using public
land , such as extra space at libraries and parks, to create more community gardens and food-growing spaces - Expanding on Pomona Unified School District’s network of school gardens, and establishing a Future Farmers of America program.
These strategies will be further explored and developed by a local advocacy group, the Inland Valley Urban Agriculture Coalition, in partnership with the City of Pomona.
The course was taught by lecturer Rachel Surls, a sustainable food systems advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County and the author of the 2016 book, “From Cows to Concrete: The Rise and Fall of Farming in Los Angeles.”
The Huntley College of Agriculture started a sustainable urban agricultural initiative this fall that included a new minor in urban and community agriculture, a speaker series, and outreach efforts to bring schoolchildren to a discovery farm at AGRIscapes.
In addition to teaching, Surls will take on a consultant’s role in January helping the college with strategic planning for its urban agricultural initiative.