GROW (Generating Research Opportunities Workshop)  Urban Agriculture Conference

• Are you interested in developing multidisciplinary urban agriculture research or education (REE) projects?

• Are you interested in connecting with others interested in developing integrated REE proposals?

• Do you want broader impacts from your research, extension and/or education work around urban agriculture?

• Do you want assistance with creating competitive urban ag and integrated REE funding proposals?

The goal of this conference is to create more integrated Research, Extension, and Education (REE) teams for collaborative proposals that improve urban agriculture and food systems broadly, as well as work at the intersection of urban agriculture and food systems that operate in, near, or within urban settings. We want to:

• Share REE needs and gaps identified by stakeholders and discover new ones.

• Identify urban agriculture and food system value chain issues of concern to collaborators and synthesize perceptions of economic, social, and environmental impacts of urban agriculture on communities.

• Support development of interdisciplinary, urban, indoor and other emerging agricultural production REE proposals that bridge disciplinary and geographic divides. 

• Build capacity of interdisciplinary teams for REE efforts in urban agriculture.

How do we pose to do this? 

Conduct a virtual conference to engage potential research, extension, education, industry, and community collaborators in integrated urban agriculture proposal development. During this conference, interdisciplinary teams will collaborate to develop creative and effective proposals rather than spend resources competing against one another. This conference will occur in 3 phases, focusing on developing teams, working together on proposals, and then refining those proposals.

When 

More on the How 

We will utilize the interdisciplinarity capacity building method of the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative inside a virtual National Charrette Institute (NCI) charrette to support and co-develop solid research networks and strong conceptual foundations for urban agriculture and food systems REE proposals. 

The first part of the conference (Phase I) will focus on providing participants with time to learn more about fellow participants and iterate through potential research topics of mutual interest.  This step is critical for successful team building and proposal development. Phase II (November 4, 2023-January 16, 2024), a 4-6 week period, allows the teams to explore in more detail what components or expertise are needed to successfully develop a competitive proposal.  For instance, a team might decide during this time that their project idea would benefit from additional input from an economics expert. The final stage of the conference (Phase III) is another intensive conference, designed to offer teams face-to-face, distraction-free space to rapidly advance their proposal ideas into a submittable document. 

Who should attend? 

Urban, Indoor and Emerging Agricultural professionals across the country including academia (across disciplines and including research, teaching and extension), governmental and non-governmental organizations representing local, state, and national perspectives, and community-based organizations or individuals, especially from BIPOC and other often less represented communities.