Tag: Urban Service Center

Urban Farming Advocacy: Connect with USDA’s UAIPAC

The Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Advisory Committee (UAIPAC) needs to hear from people who care about resilient, equitable food systems in cities. Public comments shape its recommendations—and those recommendations shape USDA policy. This is an opportunity for us to strengthen and expand the role of the USDA in supporting urban agriculture and city food systems.

UAIPAC will hold three meetings this month, their first meetings this year:

9/10/25, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT

9/17/25, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT

9/24/25, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT

Registration details can be found at: https://www.usda.gov/ partnerships/federal-advisory-committee-urban-ag

UAIPAC needs our help. This committee was created in the last Farm Bill (2018) along with the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. For the first time urban agriculture has a strong, clear presence in the USDA. Unfortunately, the new efforts haven’t been well-funded, and progress has faltered.

Two papers have outlined issues faced in the implementation of urban ag policy within the USDA. Read them in in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development:

    “…we call for consistent, permanent funding that is not subject to the annual federal budget process, which could power more tailored technical assistance programs, reformed granting initiatives, and expanded data collec­tion to inform future policy and practice.”

    Sustainable agriculture impacts in urban settings make the case for federal investments

    This next paper provides “…a set of policy recommendations to improve UA and USDA programs, including as they intersect with the imperative for racial equity…”

    Racial equity and the USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture’s granting program and urban offices

    I’ve observed several implementation issues.

    • OUAIP: Underfunded, still running pilot programs, and without a permanent director since May.
    • Advisory Committee: Down a member, meets irregularly, and must be reauthorized every two years. Unlike the National Organic Standards Board (another federal advisory committee of the USDA), it isn’t permanent.
    • Urban County Committees: Intended to connect city farmers with USDA, but still pilots—just 27 exist nationwide.
    • Urban Service Centers: Designed to help with city-specific challenges (land, water, zoning, soil contamination). Only 17 exist, and some are already faltering. In Los Angeles, for example, the planned center never opened.

    There’s work to be done. Don’t let urban ag’s representation in the USDA falter.

    Attend a meeting. Speak up. Help keep urban agriculture alive at the federal level.