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July 19, 2021 - Lancaster, PA

Secretary of Agriculture to Travel Pennsylvania, Tour Urban Gardens Building Resilient Communities

This week, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding will travel the commonwealth to visit 11 urban farms and ag operations in the cities of Reading, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. At these and many more urban agriculture sites across the commonwealth, Pennsylvanians are coming together to tackle both local and global challenges like climate change, food insecurity, and poor health associated with a lack of access to nutritious foods.

"Food production in our urban spaces - from rooftops or vacant lots, to vertical or indoor farming - plays a critical role in advancing food and nutritional security, while also working to effectively dismantle the hold of systemic discrimination that has created cases of the 'haves and have-nots' for low-income communities whose residents are predominantly Black and people of color," said Redding. "This week, we'll meet the people who have recognized need in their communities and leapt into action to grow food and opportunities, to nourish people and neighborhoods, and cultivate resilience for the future."

Over the past two years, the Wolf Administration has invested $1 million in urban agriculture through the Pennsylvania Farm Bill's Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Program. That $1 million investment has leveraged an additional $1 million in local investments through matching dollars. In total, 70 projects have been funded in 16 counties across the state. (2019-20 funded, 2020-21 funded)

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