PASA, which started 20 years ago and has 6,000 members, offers technical and business training for farmers. The land-lease program, started with the Costas, is a first for PASA: It aims to match wannabe farmers with land that is in conservation.
PASA's land-lease program is part of a larger landscape of intense interest in locally grown produce, indeed, in every aspect of the journey from farm to fork.
This local food focus, along with concern about obesity, is generating an array of initiatives, paid for with government funds, foundation grants, or private enterprise, aimed at providing equal access to fresh, local vegetables grown in untainted soil, with the ultimate goal of a healthier diet.
"As a nation, we're still spending billions unnecessarily on crop subsidies," says Bob Pierson, founder and director of Farm to City, which does consulting and marketing for farmers markets and other food businesses.
"But we're moving to a point where 'local' is the new status quo," Pierson says. "I can't see this movement going away any time soon."
Philadelphia is ahead of the pack nationally, in part because the region is rich in farmland, but also because it has well-established agencies that see sustainable farming as essential for public health and economic development, says Barry Seymour, at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which, with the William Penn Foundation, gave $100,000 to PASA's new land-lease program.
As part of Mayor Nutter's green initiative, Philadelphia adopted a Food Charter in 2008, and, joining the ranks of more than 50 other U.S. cities, established a Food Policy Council, comprising city and regional stakeholders.
