Urban Agriculture

RESEARCH RESOURCES

Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture)
www.afsic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display
An initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Alternative Farming Information Systems Information Center's section "Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening" provides a wide array of resources from downloadable publications, links to support organizations, and information on possible grants and loans for farmers.

City Farmer News
www.cityfarmer.info
City Farmer News is City Farmer's - a Vancouver-based nonprofit that runs the city's compost and waterwise demonstration garden, the city's natural yard care promotion and the regional compost hotline - new website.  Started in 2008, City Farmer News is a continuation of Urban Agriculture Notes, providing a comprehensive online resource for the urban agricultural community.

King County Extension: Gardening (Washington State University)
www.king.wsu.edu/gardening
The King County's Extension gardening resource page provides research-based information on sustainable gardening practices. Fact sheets include information on soil testing, compositing, raised beds and other insights that could assist community gardens.

The Lunch Box
www.thelunchbox.org
The Lunch Box is an online toolkit with Healthy Tools For All Schools, designed to transform school food into healthy and delicious food for all children. The site offers recipes and other best practices from school districts across the country.

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Center
www.attra.org
The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Center lists news, events and funding opportunities and provides comprehensive publications and reports regarding sustainable agriculture and organic farming.  The site contains a section specifically dedicated to urban and community agriculture, providing resource inks and downloadable reports.

RUAF Foundation
(Resources Centre on Urban Agriculture and Food Security)
www.ruaf.org
The RUAF foundation is an international network of seven regional centers and one global resource center on Urban Agriculture and Food Security.  Focusing more heavily on urban agricultural in developing countries, the foundation publishes the Urban Agriculture Magazine and other papers, books and policy briefs about urban agriculture developments. 

SPIN Farming
www.spinfarming.com
Standing for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive, SPIN farming is advertised as a non-technical, easy-to-learn and inexpensive-to-implement vegetable farming system that allows an individual to grow more than $50,000 worth of produce per half acre. The system was created by Wally Satzewich and Gail Vandersteen, who themselves manage Wallys Urban Market Garden, a multi-locational sub-acre urban farm in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.