The Incredible Edible Network recently published an article on urban food growing, often considered ‘fringe’ by authorities in the UK despite studies showing that the UK could grow up to 40% of its own fruit and vegetables by using urban green spaces and that urban agriculture positively contributes to subjective and objective measures of food security. However, looking across the pond to fellow food-justice fighters in the USA there are some amazing examples
of authorities wholeheartedly supporting urban food growing for communities. In 2019 Philadelphia Parks & Recreations department began work on a city-wide urban agriculture plan called “Growing from the Root”. The plan, which was released in April 2023, uplifts Philadelphia’s rich history of urban farming and gardening and Confronts the legacy of structural racism and land-based oppression in the city. Additionally, the plan set out a 10-year framework for investing in agriculture and food justice with recommendations to the City and its partners on how to achieve the plan’s goals.