Renewing the Countryside Urban Agriculture
Recognizing, supporting, and connecting existing urban agriculture initiatives and networks to help build a more robust Twin Cities food system where urban farmers/gardeners can flourish and access the resources needed to reach their goals.
The period for RTC's urban agriculture cooperative agreement with USDA FSA was June 2023-June 2026.
As part of this initiative we:
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Stewarded an urban agriculture micro-grants program
- Review a summary of the first and second round of micro-grants!
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Read article "Education and Growth through Urban Agriculture Micro Grants" by Linda Lubi, UMN CURA student
- Read Q+A interview by Linda Lubi, "How two urban ag practitioners and RTC micrograntees support conservation in the Twin Cities"
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Co-hosted field trips to urban farms and gardens to learn, share, and promote urban ag community efforts and practices
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Held urban farmer/gardener record-keeping, financial, and business learning opportunities
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Built reciprocal relationships to better understand urban farmer/gardener experiences, needs, and goals, and to foster collaboration
- The RTC urban ag team has collaborated with Storymobile (Saint Paul Almanac) to center urban farmer/gardener experiences, needs, and goals. Please visit this link to watch insightful farmer/gardener interviews from local field days and events.
- Guided farmers/gardeners in accessing USDA programs/services
- Provided support for urban land access preparation
- Facilitated anti-oppression community of practice
- Helped connect farmers/gardeners to resources
Initiative Background
In the summer of 2023, the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA)--guided by the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production--launched the National Urban Agriculture Initiative (NUAg) by establishing Urban Agriculture Service Centers in 17 metro areas across the US--ultimately expanded to 28, including the Twin Cities. In each place, USDA is working with a community partner to conduct outreach, education, and technical assistance to establish a client base of urban farmers for the new Urban Service Centers. Based on long-standing partnerships, the MN office of FSA engaged Renewing the Countryside (RTC) in this outreach role.
In addition, RTC is grateful to have worked with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to coordinate a 2024 People’s Garden micro-grants program in the Twin Cities. We bundled these two programs into a single urban agriculture initiative that we were honored to steward in conversation with the many networks represented in an urban agriculture steering committee that guided our work.
Urban Ag Micro-grants Program - Year 1 (2024) and Year 2 (2025) in Review
