Creating a Scalable,
Self-Sustaining
, Community-Empowering, Urban Farm System.
We’re rebuilding our communities from the soil up because we know what happens when people are healthy, vibrant, and empowered. They have the ability to realize their dreams, motivate others and create new pathways for success.
Background:
Over the past 12 years, Owen Lynch, a professor at SMU, has studied the viability of urban farms across the country and found that most do not succeed past a handful of years due to the difficulties of growing in such environments, funding to sustain jobs related to the farms, and simple human power to help run and maintain the operation.
Along with serial entrepreneur Brad Boa (who’s helped found and manage several companies), Owen convened a team of people who could help outline and execute a new plan for urban agriculture. One that would create a network of growing farms, seedling farms, community-led organizations, supporting businesses, as well as certified grower & entrepreneurial training programs. All to share resources, form a network for distribution and outreach, and share best practices while successfully handling the three main issues surrounding such projects: affordable produce/food, job creation, sustainability & regeneration.
Our fellow citizens of South Dallas are facing — are living with — very real issues of racial, social, and environmental injustice.
Systemic racism, environmental degradation, social inequity are real things that touch us all in the form of healthcare costs, infrastructure, our rights, and our collective well-being on a planet that is under stress.
If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for ten years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.
Chinese Proverb