Brownfields and crop development—for the express intent of producing foods—are concepts that have always been strange bedfellows. Mutually exclusive. An oil and water mixture. They are, however, becoming more inextricably linked than ever as urban agriculture re-development stakeholders are exploring a growing number of brownfields on which to establish an urban ag presence.

Unlike using a brownfield for time-honored end-uses: Residential, commercial or light industrial re-developments—some emerging options are seen in renewable resource facilities and such prospects as Urban Agriculture redevelopment.

The proper approach and course of action that stakeholders must take when considering Urban Ag can not be underestimated—and, the interest in such redevelopment options has become prevalent enough that it was discussed in several formulations at the Brownfield 2011 conference in Philadelphia April 4 and 5. One session, “Safe Urban Ag and the Creation of Food Systems” (see sidebar) provided instruction on how to go about this redevelopment prospect.

Chris Choi, a community planner with the EPA Region 5 office in Chicago, discussed a site in Toledo, Ohio called The Fernwood Growing Center that is expected to debut for the 2011 crop season. The 2-acre site—the most recent use being a site where Champion sparkplugs were manufactured in the mid-1990s—had a significant level of contamination with which the public/private partnership had to cope.

Choi said the site has been sufficiently cleaned up, and crop planting will start this year. The Toledo Community Development Corp. is the proprietor of the site, and Choi said that many people when they think “Urban Ag” think in a more narrow fashion of what this opportunity fully entails. He said some of the stakeholders “know they want to address the ‘food desert’ dilemma in the community. But they also have to get up to speed on so many considerations: The work force [volunteer or paid], revenue generation. They don’t always think it totally through at the start, and must get up to speed on all these considerations.”

Fermwood project sponsors might have endured similar challenges, but ironed out the rough spots. One key is the primary stakeholders incorporated an eclectic group of partners, which featured a team from the Univ. of Toledo, a group called Toledo Grows and the Center for Innovative Food Technology.

One of the points Choi emphasized was that, in these types of ventures, stakeholders must have a fine-tuned and well-calculated financial and marketing strategy in place to ensure success. In the context or Urban Ag redevelopment, you don’t have to tell that to Bernard Loyd, president of Urban Juncture Inc., Chicago. Loyd did not attend Brownfields 2011. However, Loyd already has an inside track on how to execute a successful project in an urban setting.

A Goldmine in Bronzeville

Loyd is one of the key stakeholders of a community garden on Chicago’s South Side. Seeing an opportunity several years ago to convert a blighted, dilapidated plot of land at 51st St. and Calumet Ave. in Chicago’s Bronzeville community, Loyd and his team converted the 6,400-sq. ft. parcel (a former paint store) into a community garden end use in which raised crop beds were installed to grow fruits and vegetables (the soil was beyond repair for growing crops).

Since Bronzeville Community Garden opened for business in August 2010—and to great fanfare—seems the harvest being reaped on this modest-sized parcel consists more than growing and picking food. How about fostering fellowship, a gathering place for those in this community to meet and greet. To visionaries such as Loyd and his management team—led also by noted Chicago vegan chef Tsadakeeyah Emmanuel—why not think outside the box a little bit harder and capture the full power and opportunity that an urban agriculture initiative can accomplish.

“From the start, what we’re trying to accomplish is to introduce urban agriculture to this neighborhood” Bernard Loyd, President of Urban Juncture Inc., Chicago

One of the strategies that Loyd knew had to be invoked from the start was the establishment of a not-for-profit entity (Urban Juncture Foundation), which would oversee the venture. Establishing a not-for-profit would help the project prosper, making it better eligible for loans, grants and other essential support mechanisms. First, the for-profit Urban Juncture Inc. purchased the property, which had a single-story retail building on it, said Loyd, and two years ago demolished it.

The high-level objective of this effort was simple: “From the start, what we’re trying to accomplish is to introduce urban agriculture to this neighborhood,” said Loyd. “To create a place where folks of the neighborhood (Bronzeville’s population is100,000) can get together and network. Educate people about the link between crop production and food preparation.”

World Vision

Living in Germany and Africa much of his formative years, Loyd returned to the states and received a degree in aerospace engineering from the Mass. Institute of Technology (MIT). He did not pursue this career track, instead finding a high interest in economic development with an emphasis on the food supply chain.

He attended business school and, now living in Chicago, went to work for consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for 13 years. “I was intrigued by the food chain, starting upstream at the farm level. As part of my job, I was doing economic redevelopment projects in the U.S. and across the globe, but knew sooner or later I wanted to develop a strategy locally, in Bronzeville.”

In 1995, Loyd planted his roots and established a platform to explore different opportunities, and said the food desert crisis clearly caught his attention. “Eventually, I purchased properties and focused on food sourcing to address this problem.”

How Clean is Clean?

Like a lot of urban Ag initiatives, soil composition can make or break the effort. On the Bronzeville site, the soil had been in poor condition, thanks to the activity at the former paint store. Knowing the cleanup would be prohibitive, the Foundation installed raised crop beds made from recycled palettes. Soil was imported from local sources in the Chicago area. “All the soil is new and layers of mulch have been spread in the other spaces of the garden,” said Loyd.

From a renewable resource standpoint, Loyd said that 90% of the components in the garden are derived from reused or recycled materials. This year marks the first full season for Bronzeville Community Garden. As it prepares to embark upon a six- to seven-month season, Loyd said the goal will be to continue to build on the momentum that was started last August.

As for food production volume, he said his team does not have a projection of how much food will be grown for 2011. In terms of participation, 400 folks last summer were involved in some way, shape or form in helping maintain the property. This season, he expects “a couple thousand people” to participate in the ongoing effort of upkeep, maintenance and picking crops.

One of the decisions that must be made at a community garden is whether to fence the property in or not. Cordoning off the site with a fence ensures security; however, it also sends a message to the community that this property is off limits. Loyd and the team made a decision to provide open access, and it paid off as it produced a much-needed morale boost for the community.

In addition to the flagship garden property, Loyd said urban Juncture Foundation is eager to branch out. He is envisioning a plan where “satellite” properties will be built over time, once he and the team is able to secure ownership of more parcels. One would be a larger “allotment garden.”

“We plan to expand this overall effort after we stabilize this garden, and later this year work on building a second garden for crop production.” He said this garden would hand over ownership to local residents to have full control over what is grown. Loyd said one of the plans is to build a restaurant in the neighborhood, and have an emphasis on African cuisines. The food grown at the gardens would help support the restaurant source its ingredients. Moreover, jobs would be created for people to work in various capacities at the restaurant—serving as an pivotal economic driver.

Teamwork and support were essential to make this work. Like the Toledo, Ohio effort, organizations in Chicago such as Open Lands, Green Corps, and Eden Place are all part of the foundation’s team of consultants.

It sounds like a growing number of people are starting to grasp the dynamics of urban ag possibilities, and all that this effort entails. Brownfield practitioners have preached mitigating urban sprawl by capitalizing on previous-use sites for various re-developments and preserve farmland.

Now, farmland is coming more and more to the city. As some would say, “go figure.”