Informing Extension Training Programs for Local Leaders About Urban Agriculture

To better understand the needs of local government stakeholders and provide support in creating policies that meet their communities’ needs, the PIE Center partnered with UF/IFAS Extension to examine local government stakeholders’ knowledge, perceptions and informational needs regarding urban agriculture in Florida cities and counties.

Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS Communications.

PIE Center research coordinators led the survey development, collected and analyzed data and developed a report on the findings. PIE Center media specialists used those research findings to develop informational guides.

“Florida is a rapidly urbanizing state with increasing interest in enabling Florida residents to produce food within urban and suburban areas where food production is not one of the traditional activities,” said Shelli Rampold, PIE Center research coordinator.

Local food production or, urban agriculture, includes a wide variety of activities including for profit urban farms in industrial and warehouse districts, as well as not-for- profit food production such as community and home gardens.

In Florida, each county or municipality is responsible for its own urban agriculture policies and regulations. Local government stakeholders, such as mayors, city planners and county commissioners, play a key role in drafting and adopting such policies.

“This research was needed to help inform the development and delivery of information and training provided to local government stakeholders to help alleviate barriers to, and facilitate continued growth of, local food production activities in Florida cities and counties,” Rampold said.

Results showed local government stakeholders hold positive attitudes about local food production in their communities and highly value a variety of potential benefits to having food production in their communities. These benefits include opportunities for youth development programs, educational opportunities for community members and increasing food access and security.

In general, stakeholders did not perceive the barriers that had been identified through research from other areas of the United States to be barriers to food production in their own communities. They perceived themselves as moderately knowledgeable of local food production topics such as zoning ordinances and what activities are included in urban agriculture, but were less knowledgeable of the Florida Right to Farm Act and its impacts on their jurisdictional abilities to regulate local food.

“This research provided a window into local government stakeholders’ attitudes towards local food production as well as their perceptions of the benefits and barriers to food production in their communities.” said Catherine Campbell, assistant professor in UF’s family, youth and community sciences department and primary investigator on the project.

Research findings also indicated a desire for information about local food production.

“Based on the findings about the information or training topics that the local governments identified as most important, Extension is developing materials related to local food production, including environmental best management practices, effective models that other communities have used, and evidence-based research on the impacts of its implementation,” Campbell said.

Two one-page issue guides were developed and shared to highlight the key findings of this survey. Click the issue guides to download the PDFs.

One issue guide focused on the overall perceptions amongst decision-makers, while the other focused on opportunities for Extension. Click the issue guides to download the PDFs.