Office of Urban Agriculture Oversight Hearing 2024 Testimony

DC is one of the few cities in the US with a designated Office of Urban Agriculture, and thus far this small office has done an amazing work extending support to local urban farmers under Kate Lee's leadership, including organizing RootingDC, the prominent, free annual event for urban gardeners and farmers in the District, and leading the Urban Agriculture Working Group as a part of the Food Policy Council. But the work of the office with the most direct impact has been the infrastructure and operations grant. It is my understanding that the office received dozens of applications each year for the grant, with a totaling request funding that far surpassed the $68K that was available. So my first recommendation is to increase this funds significantly to ensure that the growers in DC are able to receive funding to start or continue their work.