Mayor Walsh proclaims urban agriculture day in Boston

Text of the proclamation:

Whereas

Urban agriculture improves access to fresh, local food within the city limits of Boston, reducing the distance food travels from farm to table, strengthening community, and developing neighborhood and city-wide resiliency; and

Whereas

Urban Agriculture entrepreneurs fortify the human, environmental, and community health of their neighborhoods, all while creating local, sustainable jobs; and 

Whereas

The Mayor’s Urban Agriculture Working Group has worked tirelessly with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives to create a zoning code that empowers farmers to start their businesses in Boston, and to make Boston a nationwide leader in urban growing, and

Whereas

The Urban Farming Institute has trained farmers and prepared them for careers in urban farming; and

Whereas

The Trust for Public Land, the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and the Department of Neighborhood Development have worked together to provide land to these farmers; and

Whereas

Fathom Information and Harvard Food Law and Policy have made information transparent – digesting complex legal documents and turning them into users guides and data visualizations; and

Whereas

The Conservation Law Foundation and the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic have created a hub for farmers and food entrepreneurs to access free legal help.

Whereas

Today is the “Groundbreaking” for Boston’s newest Urban Farm at 225-227 Harold Street, and will be a celebration of all the work the city, its various departments and sister agencies, and all our partners have done in support of developing Urban Agriculture here in Boston.

Therefore

 I, Martin M. Walsh, Mayor of the City of Boston, do hereby declare Friday, July 11th, 2014 to be

Urban Agriculture Day 

and I urge all of my fellow Bostonians to recognize and appreciate those who engage in urban growing of any kind, and to acknowledge the role of urban agriculture in supporting our neighborhoods.