Urban farming is a dynamic opportunity for food security in poor inner city areas, especially since the cost of shipping food from elsewhere increases as oil becomes more expensive. Access to local food is possible by farming on urban lots. Sadly, much of the urban soil has been contaminated by industrial uses.

To overcome this problem, SOIL KITCHEN, a collaborative art project funded by the City of Philadelphia to co-incide with the National Brownfield conference, has partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test soil samples for contamination. Those who bring soil to test may also eat a bowl of soup. Knowing how toxic the land is can help citizens make informed decisions about whether to eat what they grow, or if non-edible landscaping is recommened.  Contaminated land can then be cleaned through a process of bioremediation, whereby plants and organisms neutralize toxins and harmful minerals. Land that is classified as a Brownfield is elegiable for a federal grant program administered by the EPA. Organizers hope that when the resulting data is mapped it will spur citizen action, political commitment to revitalize polluted municipal lands, and make them into assets of food security and engagement.

Learn more about organizations and people featured in OUR LAND, Episode 1:

The Soil Kitchen, a project from the Future Farmers.

Scott Kellogg, founder of the Radix Center and author of Toolbox for Sustainable City Living.

Find out more about the EPA’s brownfield resources here.

The industrialization of agriculture has resulted in a staggering loss in the variety of crops raised to feed Americans. In 2010, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that between 1900 and 2010, 75% of the world’s crop diversity was lost.

The solution to this problem is not only to create new alternatives to industrialized agriculture – which favors a reduction of variety – but also to produce seeds with techniques that expand genetic diversity and the number of varieties available to farmers and eaters. Adaptive Seeds has led the way by collecting seeds from vegetable varieties around the world and growing them to create new varieties for farmers everywhere.