{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://shontelbrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/brown-adams-file-legislation-improve-federal-support-urban-agriculture", "Brown, Adams File Legislation to Improve Federal Support for Urban Agriculture", "2023-10-18", "2023", "2023-10", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Shontel M. Brown", "B001313", "shontelbrown.house.gov", "shontelbrown", "https://shontelbrown.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, DC \u2013 Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) and Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (NC-12) have introduced legislation to improve and expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) programs and resources for urban farmers. The Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act (H.R. 5915) expands access to federal support for urban farmers, improves service delivery for urban farmers, and increases funding for the USDA\u2019s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production.\n\nCongresswoman Brown is the Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management and Credit and Congresswoman Adams is a senior member of the Committee on Agriculture. The Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act is cosponsored by 12 other members of the House of Representatives. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate this past summer.\n\n\u201cCleveland has been a trailblazing city for urban farming. Supporting urban agriculture is good for our cities, including those I represent, increasing access to nutrition and farming resources. Urban agriculture is key to making food production more resilient, innovative, and diverse. I am proud to introduce this legislation with Congresswoman Adams to build on the progress USDA has made, improve key programs, and expand grant opportunities for urban farmers,\u201d said Congresswoman Shontel Brown. \u201cAs Congress continues work on the Farm Bill, it is imperative that urban agriculture is strengthened.\u201d\n\n\u201cUrban farming has brought innumerable benefits to Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties, and to the country \u2013 from workforce development and greenspaces to nutrition security and food justice,\u201d said Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. \u201cThis bill builds on the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production\u2019s success based on lessons learned since its inception. It also bolsters data collection, so we may have a better understanding of how this piece of the farm sector fits into the puzzle of ending the crisis of hunger. I am proud to introduce this bill with Congresswoman Brown.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Supporting Urban and Innovating Farming Act would put impactful grant dollars into the hands of metropolitan farmers,\u201d said Erin Bradley, Farm and Feeding Programs Coordinator at Freshlist, a food hub based in Charlotte, NC, and a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council. \u201cThe demand for agricultural production in urban areas has skyrocketed in response to the pandemic, but urban farmers often face an uphill battle with municipalities who are not set up to accommodate agriculture. Programs like those outlined in this bill are essential for these farmers to reach business viability and we're thrilled with the work that Congresswoman Adams and Congresswoman Brown are doing on behalf of urban agriculture.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production has been essential for supporting infrastructure, technical assistance, and local planning initiatives that promote farmer networks across urban, suburban, and rural communities. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition applauds Representatives Alma Adams and Shontel Brown in their leadership to introduce the Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act, which will address the unique needs of urban, innovative, and indoor operations, increase access to program funding, and scale the office to meet the rapidly growing demand,\u201d said Hannah Quigley, Policy Specialist, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.\n\n\u201cThe controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry applauds Representatives Alma Adams, Shontel Brown and other House champions for working to ensure that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has the tools and resources it needs to support the future of indoor agriculture,\u201d said Colin O\u2019Neil, Director of Public Policy & Social Impact for Bowery and Chair of the CEA Alliance Policy Working Group. \u201cAt a time when imports of fruits and vegetables are on the rise, CEA producers are uniquely positioned to help expand the year-round production of fresh food while also build more sustainable and resilient supply chains. The Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act will help foster innovation, accelerate research and data collection, support workforce development, and ensure that USDA has the resources it needs to support CEA producers, urban and rural alike.\u201d\n\nThe Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act:\n\nEnsures that the services offered by burgeoning USDA Service Centers\n\nare delivered consistently across Service Centers,\n\nare responsive to the unique conservation challenges posed by urban environments like stormwater runoff, and\n\ninclude TA for local zoning and accessing USDA services in a scale-appropriate way;\n\nImproves access to funding offered through grants and cooperative agreements by\n\nexpanding eligibility to agriculture cooperatives, business entities, or producer networks,\n\nensuring explicitly that microgrants can be offered under grant activities to supplement effective education and training with small but impactful investments, and\n\nenabling communities to scale composting and food waste initiatives to develop food waste-to-energy projects\n\nSupports data collection focused on understanding the extent and impact of urban agriculture on community food security by\n\nfunding hydroponic, aquaponic, aeroponic, and other controlled-environment agriculture research under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, and\n\ndirecting the National Agricultural Statistics Service to complete an urban, indoor, and emerging agricultural production data census.\n\nensures the program can sustain its accelerating growth by providing mandatory funding at $15 million in FY24 and increasing it gradually to reach $50 million by FY28.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://shontelbrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/brown-adams-file-legislation-improve-federal-support-urban-agriculture"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3320459984242916, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}