Urban farming is more popular than ever, but growing food in most major cities means tangling with a major hazard: toxic soil. Many urban farming circles see cleaning it up seen as a mandatory next step. This video looks at a recent collaboration between the city of Philadelphia, the Environmental Protection Agency, and an art collective called the Future Farmers (spearheaded by the artist Amy Franceschini).
Called Soil Kitchen, the 2010 project provided citizens of Philly with free soil tests (and free soup) with the hope of mapping the soil in the area, determining soil cleanup grant eligibility, and spurring both citizen action and policy changes that would “revitalize polluted municipal lands, and make them into assets of food security and engagement.”
The video is part of a fantastic new series called OnLand that’s in development by the New York-based young farmer group the Greenhorns. In fact, they’re in the process of fundraising to finish more videos, so if you like what you see, you might want to visit their site to learn more.
