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Cities Developing Urban Agriculture Codes

Urban agriculture has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to deal with vacant properties, revitalize neighborhoods, and provide job skills and nutrition to local residents struggling with poverty and a lack of access to fresh produce.

In Austin, Texas, a working group of the Sustainable Food Policy Board is meeting to clarify and update city code related to urban farms, livestock, size of farm, employees and dwellings, according to the Austin Chronicle.

The working group has been holding public sessions to gather input from urban farmers and community members about pending updates to the urban farm ordinance.

In April 2013, the Flint Farmers' Market reported that the Detroit City Council adopted the city's first urban agriculture zoning ordinance recognizing agriculture as a legitimate land use and setting standards for it.

Other cities working to update or create urban agriculture codes include Boston, Massachusetts;
Fort Collins, Colorado; and Portland, Oregon.

For more information, see USDA's National Ag Library webpage on Urban Agriculture.

Home » Commodities & Products » Fiber » Fiber Links

Ecocomposites.org - This website by David Bainbridge, associate professor, Sustainable Management, Alliant International University, San Diego, provides an overview on agricultural fibers, source plants and their uses.

Fiber Futures - This dedicated advocacy and consulting group focuses on catalyzing the use of agricultural residues and fibers from non-wood plants for building materials, pulp & paper, textiles and other industries. As an advocacy group, Fiber Futures has built bridges with industry to convey the benefits, opportunities and challenges of using non-wood fiber resources. To promote enterprise development of such opportunities, Fiber Futures provides a variety of technical assistance services such as engineering assessments, market research, business plan refinement, educational forums and financing expertise.

Meadowood Industries - This business provides research and development services for industry clients. These services include manufacturing board or shaped products from agricultural fibers and waste materials. Working with a wide variety of materials has helped to develop extensive industry knowledge and expertise. These include agricultural fibers such as buckwheat hulls, rice stalks and hulls, various types of cereal grain stalks, corn stover, kenaf, bagasse and other forage or wild grasses, plus urban wastes including chopped money. They also do laminates, veneer and "engineered products" that ranges from clear vinyl overlays to foam core, or Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) and structural components.

Natural Fibers Information Center - The Center is an information clearinghouse on the natural fibers, oilseeds and related industries. It is a project of the Food and Fibers Research Program of the Texas Department of Agriculture.

The Agricultural Fiber Association, Inc. - This nonprofit association of Oregon straw merchants has been promoting straw utilization since 1975. Contact: info@agfiber.org.

The Bioeconomy Working Group - The BWG, organized in 2003, is a consortium of individuals and groups who have an interest in developing economically, environmentally and socially sustainable biobased businesses in Iowa. Funding is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Iowa Energy Center, Cargill Dow and the United States Department of Energy. The BWG is a part of the Value Chains Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture (VCPSA).

Links checked February 2010.

Partially Funded by USDA Rural Development
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