Pennsylvania's Agriculture Secretary Stops In Montco To Announce Urban Agriculture Awards

ELKINS PARK, PA — Pennsylvania Agriculture Russell Redding stopped at this Montgomery County town on Monday to announce projects funded through the Pennsylvania Farm Bill Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Grant Program, which is designed to improve agriculture infrastructure in urbanized locations.

Redding announced the $520,000 in grant funding during a visit to LifeLeaf Organic Farms (FarmerJawn Agriculture) in Cheltenham Township, which is right over the county line from the City of Philadelphia.

The grant money will help support 23 projects throughout the commonwealth, including two Montgomery County projects: $30,000 for the Mosaic Community Land Trust to help with the distribution of community supported agriculture food shares and organic food education programming, and $2,500 for the Pennypack Farm Education Center for Sustainable Food Systems for a new greenhouse heater for community access to seedlings.

In neighboring Philadelphia, grant money will go to the following entities: John Bartram Association, Awbury Arboretum Association, 215 People's Alliance Education Fund, Weavers Way Cooperative Association, Cloud 9 Community Farms Inc., Kelly School Garden, and Urban Creators.

In total, the projects funded are located in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Dauphin, Lancaster, Montgomery, Philadelphia and York Counties.

"These grant funds directly address food system gaps, encourage community collaboration, and create opportunities for people to become social entrepreneurs," Redding said in a statement. "And, most importantly, these funds address food system injustices by increasing agricultural awareness and improving local food access."

Redding said that the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf has invested more than $1.5 million in urban agriculture through 93 projects across 19 counties since the 2019 PA Farm Bill.

The projects funded through the program include agriculture infrastructure such as greenhouses, raised beds, solar equipment and tools to provide urban agriculture operations "every opportunity to succeed as they work to feed and build their communities," Redding's office said in a news release.

Redding's office said that through support from the MidAtlantic Farm Credit, the budget for this year's program increased from $500,000 to $520,000.

The determination of what areas were considered to be "urban" for the purposes of the grant funding came from criteria developed by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.