The local food system is creating business development opportunities and jobs for Metro Atlanta. It is also being used to create greenspace, preserve land for farming and reinvigorate neglected spaces.
While our local food system is unique to our community, there are many national and international resources we can draw on to build and measure our system’s economic impact.
Truly Living Well has created 35 jobs, hosts national FoodCorps interns, and grows 35,000 pounds of food annually for the community. They have transformed a vacant, overgrown lot into an abundant, biodiverse, welcoming space for all, just steps from the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Global Growers Network has created incubator farms and growing sites around DeKalb County to serve the refugee community, who are harvesting for food security or to earn income.
On The Atlanta BeltLine, a former abandoned and polluted bus repair facility is being cleaned up and transformed into an urban farm.
San Francisco was the first city in the nation to give tax incentives to landowners for allowing the vacant property to be used for urban agriculture. In December 2014, Washington, D.C. followed suit with the D.C. Urban Farming and Food Security Act of 2014.
Visit the National Good Food Network for webinars and resources on food hubs. Food hubs are developing across the country as a way to build the infrastructure for strong local and regional food systems.
Project for Public Spaces developed tools so that you can determine the financial benefit a farmers market brings to your community.
