At its September 17 meeting, the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Advisory Committee introduced five new recommendations to support urban agriculture. The Committee will revisit them—and may even vote—at its next meeting on September 24.
This is a key moment to make your voice heard. Your input can help shape national policy for urban agriculture. You can share your perspective by emailing the Committee, and in some cases you may also have the chance to give a brief comment during the meeting itself.
Details on how to register, attend online, and submit comments or questions are available in the Federal Register.
Proposed Recommendation #1
Permanent Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production
Establish a discretionary and permanent federal advisory committee for urban agriculture and innovative production.
Proposed Recommendation #2
Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grants
Release a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grants for Fiscal Year 2025
Proposed Recommendation #3
FSA Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grants
Authorize the Farm Service Agency (FSA) Urban/Suburban County Committee (UCOC) program to be permanent instead of a pilot project and adjust responsibilities of the program to better match existing County Committees.
- The current list of 27 cities should have full and active UCOCs. The committees are made up of three to 11 members who serve three-year terms.
- Resources to support the operations and activities of UCOCs should be provided by FSA.
- Collaboration and engagement with local FSA Urban Service Center staff should be supported by FSA and NRCS.
Proposed Recommendation #4
USDA Urban Service Centers: Urban Agriculture Technical Assistance
Integrate dedicated USDA staff with specialized technical expertise in the USDA Urban Service Centers where the Urban County Committees (UCOC) are, to improve technical assistance, outreach, and opportunities relevant to urban agriculture and innovation producers/growers.
- Staff should make joint site visits to urban farms with other FSA and NRCS Service Center representatives to provide specific guidance on indoor or other emerging production practices.
- Staff should provide specific guidance to eligible urban farmer entities to help them better apply for FSA and NRCS programs such as establishing a farm record and applying for program support.
- Solidify engagement with staff and UCOC Board Committees to gather insight and feedback on needed modifications to FSA and NRCS program eligibility guidelines and resources in the service centers to better serve the breadth of urban agriculture and innovative growers and producers.
- Solidify formal partnerships with community-based organizations and technical assistance providers to expand the impact of Urban Service Centers’ outreach and work with demonstration farms for more hands-on, peer-to-peer technical assistance.
Proposed Recommendation #5
Proposal for Grant Funding to Build Evidence-Based Urban Agriculture Programs
The Committee recognizes that urban agriculture has the potential to contribute significantly to economic and workforce development, youth education, healthy food access, and community health. However, the current evidence base is fragmented and insufficient to guide both large-scale federal programs and policies and local policies, programs, and businesses. To ensure that future investments are effective, scalable, and grounded in data, the Committee emphasizes the need for dedicated research funding, structured pilot programs with strong evaluation components, and improved national data collection.
- The Committee recommends that USDA, in coordination with HHS and DOE, establish integrated research and education competitive grant programs to support rigorous research on the impacts of urban agriculture on youth education, community development, workforce development, food access, and health outcomes.
- The Committee recommends that federal agencies fund pilot programs in urban agriculture that require partnerships between community organizations and institutions of higher education with built-in evaluation components, ensuring that findings generate reliable evidence to inform future program development and federal policy guidance.
- The Committee recommends that USDA expand national data collection efforts, including through ERS and the Census of Agriculture, to quantify the scope of urban agriculture activities, practices and outcomes, and to support partnerships with universities and Extension for longitudinal and generalizable research.
City Farm Policy 