Community gardening in the United States

This holds true whether they are sponsored by public agencies, city departments, large non-profits, or (most commonly) a coalition of different entities and groups.

However, such gardens may donate fresh fruits and vegetables to local food pantries, cooperatives, and homeless members of their community.

In turn, small farmers can reach a wider audience and consumer base by drawing on community gardeners and their contacts.

[7] Community gardens often face pressure due to economic development, rising land values, and decreased city government budgets.

In some cases, they have responded to the changes by forming nonprofit organizations to provide assistance and by building gardens on city park spaces and school yards.

In DeWitt Clinton Park, Parsons created a large educational garden in the early 1900s as a way to "show how willing and anxious children are to work, and to teach them in their work some necessary civic virtues; private care of public property, economy, honesty, application concentration, self-government, civic pride, justice, the dignity of labor, and the love of nature by opening to their minds the little we know of her mysteries, more wonderful than any fairy tale.”[13] During World War I and World War II, Victory gardens were planted on public land to meet some of the domestic need for food.

[12] In the 1960s and 70s, community gardens were a result of grassroots organizations that promoted environmental stewardship and revitalized urban neighborhoods.

[16] From the mid-1970s through the early 1990s, community gardening, in a select number of major American cities, enjoyed federal financial support,[17] though many programs struggled to find funding.

Community urban farms also provide a medium for gender empowerment, racial inclusion, and alternative power structures.

[18] As the majority of the United States' farmers reach retirement age,[22] community gardens play an active role in informing, and perhaps inspiring, a new generation to become involved with and passionate about growing food.

[23] Diversifying the food system with community gardens and other methods of urban agriculture will benefit the economy and create competition between product quality and value.

[25] Being a member of a community garden requires time, energy, and some money for dues, seeds, plants, and fertilizers.

In 2015, the City of Chicago implemented an ordinance allowing acceptance and processing of food scraps at community gardens and urban farms.

[18] Gardens that produce crops and vegetables act to reduce the need for fossil-fuel intensive storage and delivery of food to local community members.

"[28] By bringing these techniques into communities, learning opportunities arise as well as the chance of converting land from an "emissions-source" to a "carbon sink", as Robert Biel writes.

[23] Community gardens provide miniature ecological reserves with flowers and food for many kinds of birds, insects and animals.

[30] Recent public health evaluations show community gardens as a promising approach to promote healthy behaviors.

A pilot study in Los Angeles showed a gardening and nutrition intervention improved dietary intake in children and reduced body mass index.

[34] In impoverished urban areas especially, produce harvested from community gardens provides a nutritious alternative to what Nancy Janovicek calls "the industrial diet," which consists of cheap and accessible options like fast food.

[27][28] Additionally, producing food, helping the environment, and creating green spaces in cities contributes to an overall increase in happiness.

[27] Space in cities and communities reserved for growing vegetables and flowers promotes wellbeing, neighborliness, and the protection of nature.

One group, the Quesada Gardens Initiative, a community-based and resident-led volunteer group in an underserved neighborhood called Bayview Hunters Point, has created an enclosed food-producing garden on city-owned land, as well as developed many residential urban farms around privately owned homes.

[78][79] Marion County IndyGrown in partnership with the Purdue University Extension created an interactive map featuring community gardens in the Indianapolis area.

[80] Vigo County Over 3500 pounds of produce were donated in 2020 by the ISU Community Garden in Terra Haute, Indiana.

[90] Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, a nonprofit, has also introduced an agrihood which focuses on food insecurity for the surrounding community.

St. Louis is home to Gateway Greening,[92] a unique non-profit organization that works with interested neighborhoods to transform vacant lots into vibrant community gardens.

Since 1984, Gateway Greening has grown to support more than 250 community, school and youth gardens throughout St. Louis City and County.

This support is provided through the creation of a grant processes which award much needed materials, tools, and other valuable resources to new and existing community gardens.

Although Gateway Greening is a major proponent of community gardening in St. Louis, it is by no means the only group to create or support STL Urban Agriculture.

[108] The Seattle P-Patch program for community garden plots began in the early 70s during an economic downturn known locally as the "Boeing Bust" which had resulted in many people without work or money.