Mar 8, 2023
Credit: CultureMap Dallas.
Editor’s Note: Agritecture led the development of the City of Dallas’ first-ever Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan. The Dallas City Council adopted this strategic policy document on March 8th, 2023. It will guide the priorities of the City’s expanding Urban Agriculture department within the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability.
CONTENT SOURCED FROM THE CITY OF DALLAS.
March 8, 2023
The Dallas City Council adopted the Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan (CUAP), led by the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability (OEQS) and its Project Team- Agritecture, TBG Partners, The Edible Group, Fheed, LLC, Karen Karp and Partners, Profound Microfarms. The goal of the CUAP is to address the Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan’s (CECAP) objective to ensure “All Dallas’s communities have access to healthy, local food.”
“Historically, the Dallas area has been home to farms and ranches but despite this rich history today some of our residents struggle with food security and access to healthy options,” Environment and Sustainability Committee Chair and District 9 council member Paula Blackmon said. “I am proud we are taking these problems head-on and look forward to these recommendations providing our residents with the choices they deserve.”
The CUAP provides recommendations, solutions, initial action items, and metrics in pursuit of the City’s food system resiliency challenges. The intention of CUAP is to provide a strategic long-term framework for urban agriculture development in Dallas for the city to utilize as part of current and future program and infrastructure planning efforts. The five overarching goals of this plan are: to remove regulatory barriers to implementation; support access to farmlands; provide access to urban agricultural education and resources; and to facilitate collaboration between urban agriculture stakeholders.
“There is no doubt the effects of climate change will have an impact on our resident’s ability to access affordable and healthy food options,” City Manager T.C. Broadnax said. “By approving this plan, the City of Dallas is showing it has the foresight to plan how to feed its rapidly urbanized population in the face of equally rapid climate change.”
The City of Dallas recognizes the risks associated with climate change and, in May 2020, adopted the CECAP to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Based upon mitigation, adaptation, environmental quality, and social equity principles, the CECAP includes ninety-seven actions in eight different focus areas.
“By 2050, it is projected that 89% of the U.S. population and 68% of the world population will live in urban areas,” Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability, Director Carlos Evans said. “The CUAP is an important step towards ensuring that all of our communities have access to healthy local food.”
OEQS has conducted community outreach related to development of a Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan since October of 2021. OEQS engaged various stakeholders, interviewing 56 Dallas Agriculture stakeholders, and receiving a total of 745 survey responses from the general public and community and neighborhood groups. To view the full plan, visit: https://www.dallasclimateaction.com/foodaccess.