[Scpg] Backyard Gardens Are Controversial-Even in Berkeley, California

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

Backyard Gardens Are Controversial-Even in Berkeley, California
by Sarah Parsons
October 25, 2010 12:30 PM (PT)
Topics: Food Policy, Local Food, Urban Gardening
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http://food.change.org/blog/view/backyard_gardens_are_controversialeven_in_berkeley_california

Berkeley, California resident Sophie Hahn takes urban farming to the 
extreme. According to The Bay Citizen, her backyard boasts a massive 
garden where she grows all kinds of vegetables, a bounty that's big 
enough to meet the produce needs of six families. All that planting, 
tilling, and harvesting doesn't just take a time investment - it 
takes a fair amount of money, too.
Last summer, Hahn hoped to make up some of that cash by registering 
her backyard as a vegetable collective. That way, she could sell some 
of the produce she grows and make enough dough to keep the garden 
growing strong. But while getting a permit for home businesses like 
giving piano lessons or tutoring is relatively easy in Berkeley, 
establishing a vegetable garden is as difficult as growing illegal 
substances. ""It's actually easier in Berkeley to have a pot 
collective than to have a vegetable collective," Hahn told The Bay 
Citizen.

According to a new story in The Bay Citizen, Berkeley may be 
beginning to bend on its veggie-unfriendly laws. Last week, 
Berkeley's City Council wrote to the city planning department asking 
officials to change existing laws to allow urban farmers to sell 
their produce. Under the proposed changes, backyard gardens - or 
"Non-Processed Edible Home Occupations" - would be classified as a 
home business (the same as tutoring or giving piano lessons), making 
it significantly easier for folks to get operating permits.

While classifying urban farms as a home business seems like a 
no-brainer, Berkeley's planning department is torn on the issue 
because updating existing laws requires overcoming logistical 
hurdles. "It's a complicated question because we don't allow retail 
sales in residential neighborhoods right now," Dan Marks, director of 
Berkeley's Planning and Development Department, told The Bay Citizen. 
"To allow retail sales at people's homes raises questions about 
customers coming in and the like. It's hard to oppose  the idea of 
doing this. But whether this is a really important thing to do in the 
scheme of things we could be doing to encourage the reduction of 
greenhouse gases, I don't know."

Marks is hardly alone in his hesitation. Urban farmers in cities from 
San Francisco to Clarkston, Georgia are running up against 
legislative walls. Many city zoning and planning laws were created 
long before the concept of an urban farm or vegetable collective even 
existed. These antiquated regulations can make it exceedingly 
difficult - if not impossible - for city farms to get up-and-running. 
For example, setting up a produce-selling farm in a residential 
neighborhood might run counter to city zoning laws, or establishing 
said farm might require obtaining all kinds of permits -an endeavor 
that requires time and money most small-scale farming ventures lack.
Changing legislation to make it easier for these small farmers can be 
exceedingly difficult. Some cities would rather maintain the status 
quo than go through the hassle of creating loopholes for urban 
farmers.

Berkeley ranks as one of the most progressive, food-focused cities in 
all of America. If even Berkeley is considering scrapping a plan to 
help out backyard farmers, it's clear that the small-scale, local 
food movement is in a real pickle. Sign our petition asking 
Berkeley's Planning and Development Department to spend the time 
hammering out the details of a law that will allow backyard farmers 
to sell their produce. If Berkeley takes the lead on updating archaic 
legislation, other cities throughout the nation might join in the 
budding, urban farm movement.

Related Petition
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