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CASE STUDY 12: Soil Born Farms: Urban Agriculture
Presented by Shawn Harrison
West Coast Direct Marketing Summit
1:30 PM, Location: Boardroom V
July 8, 2009
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Long-term individual, community and environmental health are reliant on our ability to create more viable, sustainable and equitable locally-based food systems. Located in Sacramento, California, Soil Born Farms has been developing an urban farming model that serves to address one of the primary challenges to rebuilding local food systems, namely garnering support and awareness of local
agriculture among urban eaters. By developing real working farms in the urban and urban fringe environment, Soil Born Farms is not only increasing production of healthy food for local consumption, but also creating accessible spaces for urban residents to come touch, feel, learn about and reengage with the source of their food.

This “bridging approach” between producer and consumer is a crucial role urban agriculture can play over time. In fact, this role in many respects spurred on by individual and environmental health concerns has placed Soil Born Farms right in the middle of an exciting shift for the Sacramento region that is bringing  a diverse group of people to the table including private and public land owners, regional planners, chefs, consumers, developers, schools, immigrant farmers and rural producers. 

As Soil Born Farms moves forward with this work, an important challenge for urban agriculture will focus on the need to navigate through a maze of local policy, land-use ordinances and consumer opinions that bring unnecessary diffi  culties to farming in and around the city environment.

Shawn Harrison www.soilborn.org
Shawn Harrison is the co-founder and director of Soil Born Farms, an urban organic farming and education center located in Sacramento, CA. Through its urban farms and associated programs, Soil Born Farms works to create a more sustainable and equitable food system for the Sacramento region. Mr. Harrison has been directly involved in the development of sustainable food systems and healthier communities since 1993 and holds an M.S. degree in International Agriculture Development from U.C. Davis. Recent recipient of Valley Vision’s Regional Environmental Legacy Award, Mr. Harrison is a native of Sacramento and continues to work and reside there with his wife and two daughters. 

UPDATE:
Vanessa Barrington wrote a piece about the Soil Born Farms Case Study at the 2009 AMS Summit for the blog EcoSalon entitled "Is a Farm Coming to a Strip Mall Near You?"

Below is an excerpt from the article:

"Growing food closer to where we live, both in urban centers and suburban tracts, is going to become more important as oil prices rise. Right now, it’s an important step to providing access to healthy food for more people, making agriculture more sustainable and providing more opportunities for a younger crop of farmers. But it’s going to require a reversal in development patterns."

Click here for full blog post:

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