THUNDER BAY -- There are endless benefits to urban agriculture.
“Urban agriculture is a way of getting people outside. It’s a way of reconnecting people to healthy food, locally-grown food and taking more of an interest in their farming community by extension,” said Kendal Donahue, coordinator of the Thunder Bay Food Strategy.
It’s also a way to trap carbon and has benefits for pollinators.
All of those checks in the plus column have the food strategy seeking the public’s input on areas that could be used for urban agriculture projects.
Anyone with an idea of an area in their neighbourhood that could be turned into a community garden, a pollination corridor or a compost system can submit their idea online by April 1.
“The food strategy is about building up community resilience in terms of local food systems,” said Donahue, adding they want people to start thinking differently about where a new project could go or where they could add on to an existing community garden.
The city already has more than a dozen community gardens along with another dozen school gardens.
Donahue said more people are also composing and showing interest in these types of projects.
“What we’re seeing from other cities is there is so much more we could be doing,” she said.
“Cities are growing food on boulevards. They’re growing food on rooftops.”
Those who submit ideas by the deadline will be invited to join an Action to Ideas Café on April 22, where individuals will be able to connect with different groups in the city to learn about funding opportunities and hear feedback from city staff and other community leaders.
