Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
This project will partner Sola Gratia Farm (SGF) with 6 community growers engaging in micro-scale urban farming in Champaign County, Illinois, in order to educate on and demonstrate to the local gardening/urban farming community how sustainable growing practices such as integrated pest management, water conservation, cover cropping, etc. can enhance their capacity to respond to food insecurity. Partner gardens are participants in Solidarity Gardens, a collaborative initiative managed by Cunningham Township Supervisor’s Office (CTSO), SGF, Urbana Park District, and Champaign Park District to increase local food sovereignty by supporting gardeners to produce more food to share. Solidarity Gardens collaborates with 1) skilled community gardeners to support them in increasing production of nutritious, fresh, local produce, and 2) emerging gardeners to develop food production skills in order to address their and their neighbors’ food needs. Working with the first group (our partner gardens), we will provide hands-on educational workshops and collaborative demonstrations to approximately 50 gardeners in the second group (our larger network), providing all participants with opportunities to discuss and address challenges of managing a small-scale growing operation to be environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially responsible, while increasing networking and relationship-building amongst growers themselves.
Project objectives from proposal:
- Educate 50-75 growers on agricultural methods that are economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially responsible, and which mitigate pressing challenges that prevent them from operating their gardens at a high level of efficiency.
- Assist 6 growers to implement sustainable agriculture methods in their gardens, both to materially increase their sustainability and to serve as a demonstration for other community gardeners.
- Deepen relationships within the local gardening/urban farming community by collaboratively planning and practicing how to grow more sustainably.
- Develop capacity at SGF for future grower education on sustainable agricultural practices.