Southeast Area Farmer’s Market
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Oct. 27
MLK Jr. Park, 900 Fuller Ave. SE

Bridge Cards, Double Up Food Bucks and WIC Welcome!

The City of Grand Rapids Urban Agriculture Committee wants to know your thoughts about urban agriculture. Come to the market Saturday and let them know what you think. OKT’s executive director, Lisa Oliver-King is on the committee. Some questions that she and Our Kitchen Table is asking include:

• Should zoning ordinances be changed to support urban farms? If they are, who should operate them? City residents and small, local farmers, or high-powered agricultural industrialists looking for investment opportunities?
• Who should eat the food? Neighborhood residents with little access to healthy whole foods or the clientele of high-end restaurants?
• How will urban ag projects will impact the neighborhoods where they operate? Will they support the existing residential community or hasten gentrification and higher housing costs?

“School gardens, urban farms, [and] composting and educational initiatives have tremendous potential for shaping a city’s fabric,” says Levi Gardner, Urban Ag committee chair. “Through this community engagement process, we hope to better understand how these initiatives and many others like them fit into our growing city. While we are benchmarking against other cities in this process; we are welcoming Grand Rapids residents to voice their ideas, questions, and concerns about this work.”