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Land Trust Secures Vacant Lots for Urban Agriculture, Recreation in LA’s Underserved Neighborhoods
December 19, 2014 | seedstock
Photo courtesy of the LA Neighborhood Land Trust
Founded in 2002, the LA Neighborhood Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that identifies underutilized space in a 475-square miles area in and around Los Angeles, and transforms it into green space for urban agriculture and community recreation projects.
Real estate costs are high in Los Angeles, so the work of the Trust moves forward one small lot at a time.
“Our little land trust is good with conserving half-acre properties and creating green space in a community that has never existed before,” says Mark Glassock, director of special projects for the Trust. “In terms of our acreage, we are quite small, but in terms of our impact and our reach in terms of population, I believe we’re actually very, very large.” Read More
Presentation: The Potential of Regional and Local Agriculture to Generate Economic and Social Returns
May 7, 2014 | seedstockThe following presentation, which was given by Dr. Glenda Humiston, California State Director for U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, looks at the vast opportunities out there to generate economic and social return by leveraging and promoting local and regional agriculture assets. The presentation was given at the Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond! conference on March 19 – 20 at The Riverside Convention in Riverside, CA.
‘Grow Riverside’ Conference Presentations Posted to Growriverside.com; Seattle’s Local Food Action Initiative
April 2, 2014 | seedstockOver the next couple of days, we will be posting the presentations from the conference. For those of you not in attendance, the presentations from the conference explore local food and urban agriculture from the policy, technology, farm-to-school and market opportunity standpoints. The presentation below was put together by Richard Conlin, who served four terms on the Seattle City Council, from 1998 to 2013, and developed the Local Food Action Initiative to increase Seattle’s access to nutritional foods, reduce costs for farmers bringing their produce to markets in Seattle, and strengthen the security of our food supply. He also founded and currently co-chairs the Regional Food Policy Council.
Stay tuned for more presentations in the days to come!
UC Riverside Takes Active Role in Promoting Community and Local Food Systems at ‘Grow Riverside’ Conference
March 26, 2014 | Robert Puro
UC Riverside, a sponsor of last week’s ‘Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond’ Conference, played a large role in shaping the conference proceedings and contributing concrete ideas and steps to help the City of Riverside develop local agriculture strategies and solutions to reconnect with its agricultural roots and foster a robust and sustainable local food future.
Fortino Morales III, Director of the UC Riverside Community Garden, a 3-acre community garden on UCR’s campus, participated on the ‘Local Ag Growth Strategies’ panel on day one of the conference. The panel looked at the infrastructure needed to grow new farmers from educational programs and farmer training to incentives for entrepreneurs and more. Read More
Over 400 Attendees Gather at Sold Out Grow Riverside Conference to Drive Local Food System Development in City
March 21, 2014 | seedstockIf ever there was doubt about the interest, desire and motivation among the citizens of the City of Riverside to develop local agriculture strategies and solutions to reconnect with their agricultural roots and create economic opportunities that growers, advocates, government officials and other major stakeholders can leverage to foster a robust and sustainable local food future, it was allayed at the SOLD OUT ‘Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond!’ Conference Conference that took place at the Riverside Convention Center on March 19 – 20.
A diverse array of over 420 attendees from growers, ag entrepreneurs, local food advocates and distributors to City of Riverside officials, university students and professors from across California, business executives and California FFA members from Horte Vista High School were on hand to hear from some of the most innovative thinkers, experts and practitioners in the local and urban agriculture sphere.
The conference will return next year on March 5 – 6, so mark your calendars! In the interim, please stay tuned to GrowRiverside.com to learn about outcomes-focused activities, actions and initiatives that you can be involved with to help shape the future of the local food and agriculture in the City of Riverside.
Below is a gallery of images, tweets, facebook and instagram posts that summarize what took place at the game-changing Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond! conference.
Grow Riverside is SOLD OUT!!!!! Live Streaming!
March 18, 2014 | seedstockGrow Riverside has sold out! The event will, however, be streamed live via Ustream. So, if you can’t be there in person, you’ll still be able to watch the proceedings!
To stream the event live, go to https://new.livestream.com/accounts/6862664/events/2851208 at 8:30am tomorrow!
‘Grow Riverside’ Conference Featured in Press Enterprise: Officials Hope Conference Plants Seeds for Local Farms
March 16, 2014 | seedstockAlicia Robinson, staff writer for the Press Enterprise writes, “Though acres of concrete and buildings outnumber farms and citrus groves in the Inland area today, farmers and local officials want to get back to the area’s agricultural roots.
A conference scheduled in Riverside for Wednesday, March 19, and Thursday, March 20, aims to explain the value of locally-grown food, show there’s a market for it, and help people navigate the challenges of setting up a small farm.” Read more here!
Take the CURE | Grow Riverside Challenge!
March 3, 2014 | seedstock
Turn your passion for protecting the environment into an action plan that can revolutionize agriculture in Riverside …and you may win a scholarship!
The CURE Challenge seeks creative strategies or land use plans that will improve and protect the environment, benefit the local community, and most importantly, that are economically viable.
The Cure Challenge is offering three scholarship awards: $1000, $500 and $250, to the three students who come up with the best strategies or land use plans to transform the future of local agriculture in Riverside.
The CURE Challenge is being offered to college and high school students and will serve as a grassroots, community outreach program to engage youth creativity and entrepreneurship. Read More
Donate to the Riverside Food Systems Alliance
