Letter from our Executive Director:
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And today we face more challenges. Our unemployment numbers are through the roof. Jobs are scarce and businesses are closing. Our homes, industry, and transportation - heavily reliant on fossil fuels – are no longer sustainable.
Erratic weather patterns and changes to the environment add to the unpredictability. Conventional farming has become so large and unwieldy that the methods used to produce and protect the food products are adding to our human heath crises in many forms from e-coli and salmonella outbreaks to new viruses, from antibiotic resistance to inhumane living conditions for food producing animals.
But there is good news! We eat $5.7 Billion worth of food in the Denver metro area. In that number is hope.
Food security is getting a lot of attention lately. Many progressive cities are calling for an increase in local food production to 60-70%. If we committed to creating just 10% of our food locally, we would grow our locally-sourced food market from $4.3 million to $570 million. That would be $570 million staying in our communities, paying wages, and keeping businesses open.
Producing food in the city would bring fresh food directly into our communities and homes. Food grown near where we live will be more transparent leading to deeper understanding of production that is good, clean and fair. Learning the skills of farming in the city will create a new labor force. Developing city-appropriate, low-carbon-use farming techniques will create new green businesses. Food production buildings will secure year-round fresh food availability. And creating these businesses in communities, in neighborhoods, and on main streets will re-establish our relationship and responsibility with feeding ourselves.
Feed Denver: Urban Farms & Markets is working with individuals, businesses, city leaders and communities to create pilot farms working in conjunction with a Regional Training Center. Our first pilot farm project was at The Urban Farm at Stapleton. Through this pilot project we developed a farm to include a soil producing compost program as well as a greenhouse aquaculture operation which will produce nutrient rich greens, vegetables, and fish. The education program will expand to include re-skilling and business courses for adults. Through the process we will engage local universities to assist in research and development to document and to improve our processes.
Our second pilot was a community-led project in one of our city’s most challenged neighborhoods, Swansea. In this location we transformed a parking lot into a vibrant community oasis farm. Guided by community leaders we created a project providing not only jobs and training but a fresh food market and café in a “food desert.” Future plans include a food processing public commissary for local entrepreneurs to develop and hone their skills as producers and business people. A board of vision and business leaders will develop this project focusing on making fresh food available and accessible, strengthening cultural identity, building health, and creating local job and entrepreneurial opportunity.
We are also developing an individual entrepreneurial model appropriate for Main Streets incorporating vertical, multi story design with storefront markets and café restaurants. Other potential pilot programs will include partnering with schools, institutions, corporations, churches, research organizations to create on-site greenhouse farming.
Feed Denver provides resource sharing, project mentoring, and fiscal management working side by side with the pilot farms to create a strong and sustainable, community focused operation. Projects will be managed and mentored for up to five years. At that time the project will become independent through cooperative or entrepreneurial ownership transfer. The new ownership will pay back startup capital to Feed Denver where it will join funds in a revolving loan program to assist new farms and projects.
Read on for more information on our operation. We look forward to discussing this in more depth and hope to work with you in future.
Lisa Rogers
Executive Director
Erratic weather patterns and changes to the environment add to the unpredictability. Conventional farming has become so large and unwieldy that the methods used to produce and protect the food products are adding to our human heath crises in many forms from e-coli and salmonella outbreaks to new viruses, from antibiotic resistance to inhumane living conditions for food producing animals.
But there is good news! We eat $5.7 Billion worth of food in the Denver metro area. In that number is hope.
- We urgently need to become involved in feeding ourselves.
- We also urgently need to create jobs.
- We need to take responsibility for producing food for our city.
- We need to develop more locally based and sustainable industries.
Food security is getting a lot of attention lately. Many progressive cities are calling for an increase in local food production to 60-70%. If we committed to creating just 10% of our food locally, we would grow our locally-sourced food market from $4.3 million to $570 million. That would be $570 million staying in our communities, paying wages, and keeping businesses open.
Producing food in the city would bring fresh food directly into our communities and homes. Food grown near where we live will be more transparent leading to deeper understanding of production that is good, clean and fair. Learning the skills of farming in the city will create a new labor force. Developing city-appropriate, low-carbon-use farming techniques will create new green businesses. Food production buildings will secure year-round fresh food availability. And creating these businesses in communities, in neighborhoods, and on main streets will re-establish our relationship and responsibility with feeding ourselves.
Feed Denver: Urban Farms & Markets is working with individuals, businesses, city leaders and communities to create pilot farms working in conjunction with a Regional Training Center. Our first pilot farm project was at The Urban Farm at Stapleton. Through this pilot project we developed a farm to include a soil producing compost program as well as a greenhouse aquaculture operation which will produce nutrient rich greens, vegetables, and fish. The education program will expand to include re-skilling and business courses for adults. Through the process we will engage local universities to assist in research and development to document and to improve our processes.
Our second pilot was a community-led project in one of our city’s most challenged neighborhoods, Swansea. In this location we transformed a parking lot into a vibrant community oasis farm. Guided by community leaders we created a project providing not only jobs and training but a fresh food market and café in a “food desert.” Future plans include a food processing public commissary for local entrepreneurs to develop and hone their skills as producers and business people. A board of vision and business leaders will develop this project focusing on making fresh food available and accessible, strengthening cultural identity, building health, and creating local job and entrepreneurial opportunity.
We are also developing an individual entrepreneurial model appropriate for Main Streets incorporating vertical, multi story design with storefront markets and café restaurants. Other potential pilot programs will include partnering with schools, institutions, corporations, churches, research organizations to create on-site greenhouse farming.
Feed Denver provides resource sharing, project mentoring, and fiscal management working side by side with the pilot farms to create a strong and sustainable, community focused operation. Projects will be managed and mentored for up to five years. At that time the project will become independent through cooperative or entrepreneurial ownership transfer. The new ownership will pay back startup capital to Feed Denver where it will join funds in a revolving loan program to assist new farms and projects.
Read on for more information on our operation. We look forward to discussing this in more depth and hope to work with you in future.
Lisa Rogers
Executive Director