Food and urban agriculture initiatives expanded

Mayor Michelle Wu today announced the creation of GrowBoston: Office of Urban Agriculture. The new office will be within the Housing Cabinet and will work to increase food production throughout Boston; develop and implement innovative food production strategies; provide technical assistance to prospective and existing gardens and farms; develop food production resources for gardeners, farmers, and other residents; and coordinate with other City departments to expand citywide urban agriculture. GrowBoston will also contribute to Boston's efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change while addressing injustices inherent in the current food system. 

Additionally, Mayor Wu announced that the Office of Food Access will now be renamed the Mayor's Office of Food Justice (OFJ) and will be a part of the Environment, Energy and Open Space Cabinet. This step expands upon the Mayor's commitment to making nutritious, affordable, and culturally relevant food accessible to all Boston residents. The Office of Food Justice will take an intersectional approach to food security that embeds social, racial, economic, and environmental justice in all of its work. The Mayor's Office of Food Justice will focus on five pillars to making nutritious, affordable food accessible in Boston. These include investing in Boston's food businesses, building coalitions, expanding Boston residents' access to affordable food that is also culturally appropriate and nutritious, using public procurement of food, and investing in food chain workers in Boston. The mission of the Mayor's Office of Food Justice will be to build a food system that is equitable, resilient, sustainable, and just. GrowBoston is focused on food production, while OFJ is focused on food access. 

"Urban agriculture, including community gardens, urban farms, food forests, and other ways of growing food in the city, can directly strengthen our local food system, mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis and ensure equitable access to healthy food in Boston," said Mayor Michelle Wu. "GrowBoston and the Office of Food Justice will combat inequities in the food system, reduce the carbon footprint of food access, and increase food security while reducing climate change impacts. Boston has a long history of urban agriculture as well as food justice activism, and we are continuing this tradition with increased investment of public resources." 

"The Mayor's Office of Food Justice and GrowBoston take a food systems approach to ensure we are getting nutritious food on our plates while enhancing the health of our planet and our local economy," said Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space. "I am grateful to Mayor Wu for her vision and leadership in the food justice space and I look forward to supporting this work."

Continue reading.

Photo by Harits Mustya Pratama on Unsplash

Source: City of Boston