Secretary Russell Redding Tours Pittsburgh Urban Ag Sites in 6th Annual Visit
On July 12, 2022 the PFPC hosted Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding on a tour of four urban agriculture sites. This sixth annual visit occurred during Pennsylvania Urban Agriculture Week, which celebrates the importance of urban agriculture across the state. The Secretary and 50+ tour attendees visited Churchview Farm in Baldwin, 1 Sound Urban Farm in the West End, Tree Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville and Peace and Friendship Farm in Pittsburgh's Hill District.Lunch, which incorporated produce from Oasis Farm and Fishery in Homewood, was catered by Sprezzatura.
The PFPC and our network give a huge thanks to the Allegheny County Conservation District and Pasa Sustainable Agriculture for their generous sponsorship of the beautiful lunch attendees enjoyed together.
Similar to past years, this event was designed to gather local and state officials, members of our urban agriculture community, project supporters, members of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, and conservation officials to celebrate the strides our region has made in the advancement of urban agriculture. The tour centered on farms and gardens that have received funding for infrastructure improvements through the Pennsylvania Farm Bill Urban Agriculture Infrastructure grant. Over the past 3 years, Allegheny County sites have received over $400,000 in funding from this PA Farm Bill opportunity. The $500,000 2022-23 Pennsylvania Farm Bill Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Program will open for applications later this summer.
In a nod to urban agriculture and the community builders that do this work, Mayor Ed Gainey and Mrs. Gainey, Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak, Councilperson Deb Gross, City Council’s Community Health and Human Services Policy Manager Ricky Moody on behalf of Council President Theresa Kail Smith, Neil Ruhland on behalf of Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen, Andrew McElwaine of the Heinz Endowments along with many, many others were in attendance.
Ricky Moody presented a proclamation on behalf of Council President Theresa Kail Smith, recognizing Urban Agriculture Day and Pittsburgh’s Urban Ag community.
It was wonderful to celebrate many of the farmers, supporters, and leaders in the Pittsburgh urban ag community together on this tour. From start to finish, the day highlighted the strength of the PFPC network and the impact of years of our collective work.
Highlighted sites
Churchview Farm is a small sustainable family farmette in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Churchview exists as a teaching and learning space, where they foster relationships within our community and grow all-natural heirloom vegetables, fruit, and herbs without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Churchview grows with and for our CSA workshares, volunteers, and student interns. They do not sell our products to the public; instead, it goes home with those who grow them on the Farm, and to their in-house chef, Csilla Thackray, who utilizes and preserves them for her seasonal On The Farm events. It is also allocated to guest chefs for their onsite Farm Dinners and Picnic.
1 Sound Urban Farm was established in 2021. It is a nonprofit organization Out of the End Incorporated. The urban farm was established to become a teaching site for community members to learn to grow, sustain, scale and distribute fresh food to a local organization’s cafeteria. The organization is called the Jasmine Nyree Campus, which is geared towards providing life skills to special needs children and adults. This organization also has a community center that provides out of school programming, and we at the 1 Sound Farm will grow and distribute fresh food for them. They also plan to establish a robust herb garden in this area to assist with therapy for our special needs population. They are GROWING!
Tree Pittsburgh is an environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the City’s vitality by restoring and protecting the urban forest through tree maintenance, planting, education, advocacy, and land conservation. The organization's 5-acre campus in Pittsburgh’s Upper Lawrenceville neighborhood is home to the Heritage Tree Nursery which grows 80+ species and produces more than 18,000 seed-grown seedlings annually.
Peace and Friendship Farm operated by U.S. veterans in the Project Love Coalition welcomes people to come to learn how to sustainably grow healthy organic food and to socially engage with one another in ways that build peace and friendship.
Oasis Farm & Fishery is an educational initiative of The Oasis Project, the community and economic development division of Bible Center Church. We exist to teach and apply urban farming techniques and equip youth and adults to grow their own food and cook healthy recipes using fresh produce. Our farm has a direct current (DC) powered greenhouse that stores 1,750 gallons of reclaimed rainwater and includes aquaponic and hydroponic food production systems. We also have a 24-panel solar canopy and an outdoor kitchen equipped with a brick pizza oven. Our surrounding property includes an outdoor classroom, a straw bale garden, a satellite farm, and African American heritage garden. All of which are used for outreach programming.
