Embedded Files
Columbia's Urban Farming
Columbia's Urban Farming
Our correspondent Sean Brynda takes an in depth look at Columbia's community gardens and what urban farming is all about.
By Sean Brynda Our correspondent Sean Brynda takes an in depth look at Columbia's community gardens and what urban farming is all about.
On the corner of Providence Road and Dysart Street is a community garden owned by Kilgore Pharmacy and managed by the Columbia Center of Urban Agriculture (CCUA). The food that Kilgore’s garden grows is donated to the Nora Newhart Stewart Early Learning Center where youth are fed the nutrition they need. Every Wednesday evening, Matthew Dolan, Urban Farming AmeriCorps worker for CCUA, tends to the Kilgore Community Garden.
“This beats working a desk job,” Dolan said. “Working inside for me isn’t productive, so working with this community garden is beneficial not only for me but also for the community.”
The Kilgore Garden is only one of multiple urban farms and gardens placed in the Columbia area that help support low-income families and food pantries in need of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Urban farming is defined by Greensgrow Farms as growing or producing food in a heavily populated area such as a city or town. Within this definition, there are two types of urban farming: community gardening and individual gardening. Individual gardening can be a garden owned by a sole individual or a community in which they use crops for personal use or profit from them. Community gardening is when a community tends to a garden and food from the garden is donated to food pantries. According to Professor Mary Hendrickson of the University of Missouri-Columbia, urban gardening today is very different than what it was 70-85 years ago. Hendrickson is an expert in sustainable agriculture and has been teaching for 10 years at the University.
“When looking at the early 20th century, cities and neighborhoods maintained victory gardens in order to support troops who were fighting abroad in both the first and second world wars,” Hendrickson said. “By the second half of the 20th century, more restrictive food productions began in cities.”
In terms of creating an urban farm or garden in the community, there are a couple of steps before people can grow anything. Kristin Frazier, the development associate for CCUA, provides a step-by-step process for how a person could make their own community garden.
“The first challenge in any community gardening project is to find a piece of property,” Frazier said. “Funding is also a major challenge as well as getting the proper documentation and training for growing a community garden.”
Frazier says even if someone did have all the permits, land, and training for the garden, the hardest part is making sure the quality of the soil is healthy. Soil is perhaps the most important part of the urban community garden. Poor quality of soil can result in poor crop development. The best way to improve soil, according to Frazier, is to add compost onto the land being used. Compost enriches the ground with nutrients and healthy bacteria that can help food grow better than fertilizer.
However, there are dangers to adding compost to a community garden. Dolan further explains that when farmer’s donate horse straw or leftover crops for compost, they are often laced with herbicide that has been used on industrial crops. When these laced compost resources are mixed into the soil, it presents a major health risk. Once the plants are watered, the chemicals from the herbicide leak from the compost onto the growing crops.
In order to prevent this from happening, it is best to make a compost bin for the garden. Healthy compost is a mix of two types: brown compost and green compost. Green compost consists of leftovers like fruits and vegetables that can decompose. Brown compost can be leaves fallen from trees, dead grass, or decaying wood that turns into mulch. The mixture of both types can create a concoction that feeds and supplements the soil.
The CCUA has provided positive engagement with the Columbia community from their gardens since 2009. In 2018, the center donated 16,399 pounds of produce to local food pantries and in the upcoming year, the CCUA hopes to expand this outreach as their new pavilion at the Agriculture Park is set to be revealed July 6. This new location is estimated to help provide Columbia with three times the annual crop with 50,000 pounds of freshly grown produce.
Want to find out more? Keep an eye out for the PLANTR app that our team has under development. Functioning similar to Tinder, PLANTR will allow users to swipe on plants they may want to include in their garden. Based on qualities such as garden location, soil condition sunlight, etc., the app will decide whether the user's garden and plant match.
Want to find out more? Keep an eye out for the PLANTR app that our team has under development. Functioning similar to Tinder, PLANTR will allow users to swipe on plants they may want to include in their garden. Based on qualities such as garden location, soil condition sunlight, etc., the app will decide whether the user's garden and plant match.
About Us
About Us
Sean Brynda is a sophomore at the University of Missouri- Columbia. Currently attending the School of Journalism, Mr. Brynda is studying International Journalism. Of his passions, Mr. Brynda enjoys camping, programs such as 60 Minutes and Last Week Tonight, and reads whenever possible.
Amanda Wachter is an upcoming sophomore at the University of Missouri. She is studying Journalism with an emphasis in Strategic Communication. In her free time you can find her keeping up with the Kardashians, reading the latest issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine, or eating way too much frozen yogurt.
Kaylee Schreiner is a sophomore at the University of Missouri. She is studying journalism with a minor in Spanish. In the future, she would love to study abroad. She is a self-proclaimed caffeine addict, watches too many Marvel movies, and spends more time at Chick-fil-a than her apartment.
Jack Gerstung is a sophomore at the University of Missouri. He is currently in Journalism and trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He is currently studying Japanese in hope he can study abroad in the future. He is a lover of ultimate frisbee, volleyball, and video games.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse