Reports

• • Seeding the City: Land Use Policies to Promote Urban Agriculture (ChangeLab Solutions):
    • This report primarily distinguishes between home garden, community garden, and urban farm. It provides definitions and alternative definitions as well as a “Model Zoning Ordinance” on page 20. Is cited on multiple websites from multiple cities as a resource that is used frequently.

• • Urban Food Zoning Code Update: Enhancing Portlanders’ Connection to Their Food and Community (City of Portland):
    • This report primarily distinguishes between home garden, community garden, and urban farm. It provides definitions and alternative definitions as well as a “Model Zoning Ordinance” on page 20. Is cited on multiple websites from multiple cities as a resource that is used frequently.

• • Urban Agriculture: A Tool for Creating Economic Development and Healthy Communities in Prince George’s County, MD (The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission):
    • This report is a detailed explanation of urban agriculture and its benefits to a local municipality. It was created for Prince George’s County in 2012, but it provides an in depth definition of urban agriculture and the reasoning behind its chosen definition including other recognized definitions in Appendix A (page 116) and a history of urban agriculture (page 5). The rest of the report systematically explains common terms in urban agriculture, which would be helpful information for policymakers.

• • Good Laws, Good Food: Putting Local Food Policy to Work for Our Communities (Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic):
    • This comprehensive report is geared towards policymakers and advocates. It first gives an in depth explanation of the powers that local governments have in regulating food and health. Sections II and III are relevant for this definitions project; Section II helps explain and define types of infrastructure involved in an urban food system whereas Section III discusses types of land use regulations. Section IV explains regulations for Urban Agriculture and provides examples of definitions used from various cities. It then provides similar sections for community access to healthy food, school nutrition, and food waste.
    • The first version of this report, from 2012, also included a section on Environmental Sustainability, which was excluded from the 2017 version in exchange for a section on procurement and food waste. The versions are identical in effect and the 2017 version provides new examples and updated information.

• • Creating a Food Secure Detroit: Policy Review and Update (Detroit Food Policy Council):
    • This report’s section titled “Food Security in Detroit” gives a review of the definitions of terms used in Detroit’s urban agriculture ordinance and the considerations that went into those definitions.

• • Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens (ChangeLab Solutions):
    • This report highlights model language for urban agriculture zoning ordinances. A great short resource for city planning.

• • Urban Agriculture: A sixteen city survey of urban agriculture practices across the country (Turner Environmental Law Clinic):
    • This report compiles short case study-like descriptions of 16 cities’ urban ag policies and describes how the different types of uses are defined. Does not provide full definitions but is cited on several other sites and reports.

• • Denver Food Vision (City of Denver):
    • This is a good resource as a practical guide for other cities and towns looking to implement comprehensive health planning as it describes its Vision as well as how it implemented it, down to financing, in some detail. It’s most notable, however, for its Appendices; Appendix D has all of the adopted definitions, which could serve as model definitions for another city or town.

• • Excerpt from: Urban Agriculture Policy Plan (City of Minneapolis):
    • This summary focuses on key cities that served as a model for Minneapolis’ own policy. The summaries of the cities’ policies discuss how different cities use broad or narrow definitions of various types of urban agriculture as well as how they are zoned. It is a good overview of policies from a variety of cities for local policymakers to pull information from.

• • Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues (USDA):
    • This report is useful for its section on “What is Local Food?”. It provides an in depth explanation of common terms and typology used at Local Food Markets.

• Locally Nourished: How a Stronger Regional Food System Improves the Bay Area (SPUR):
  • This report is not very instructive for determining definitions. But, it is a useful model for looking at how a city defines its “food web” and goals for a healthy food policy. It is also instructive for considering different policy options (zoning v. land easements, etc) and for government structure (how/where tasks should be allocated).
    • SPUR: San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association

Guides and Toolkits

• • Article 89 Made Easy: Urban Agriculture Zoning For The City of Boston (City of Boston):
    • This guide is geared towards urban farmers navigating complicated zoning regulations in the city. Yet, it would be useful for policymakers because it clearly outlines different types of urban farming and their allowances through tables and succinct information.

• • Community Gardens Model Ordinance (Cumberland County, PA):
    • This model ordinance was created for Cumberland County municipalities and other municipalities in Pennsylvania. It provides definitions as well as recommended language, in order to try to keep certain aspects consistent across the county.

• • Sample zoning for agriculture-like and urban agriculture (Michigan State University Extension):
    • A detailed document on how to draft language for zoning urban agriculture.

• • Municipal Strategies to Support Local Food Systems: Including Local Food in Comprehensive Plans and Urban Agriculture Ordinance Toolkit (CMAP):
    • The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) created this toolkit as a technical resource for municipal ordinance planning. It goes through a step by step process of considerations for urban agricultural ordinances. It includes an overview of how various cities have defined “local food,” urban agriculture uses such as composting, and types of urban ag activities.

• Growing Local: A Community Guide to Planning for Agriculture and Food Systems (American Farmland Trust / Growing Food Connections):
  • This guide has a section on “Creating a Common Language,” which runs through common terms used in food systems planning and provides explanations for them.

Websites

• National Sustainable Agriculture Assistance Project (ATTRA) — Urban agriculture page:
  • This website was listed as a resource by the City of Baltimore. ATTRA’s Urban Agriculture page links to many other resources, including descriptions of different types of urban agriculture activities or formats (community garden vs. farm).