Recommendations for Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening During COVID-19
Resources and recommendations for those growing food for themselves, their neighbors or others.
This document was compiled by leaders from Soil Generation, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Neighborhood Gardens Trust, the Garden Justice Legal initiative, and others with experience supporting urban agriculture in Philadelphia. Please use and share these resources with any gardeners and farmers you know in Philadelphia.
Updates from Philadelphia City Government
- Get COVID-19 updates sent to your phone – text COVIDPHL 888-777 to recieve free text alerts from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
- On Wednesday, March 22, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation clarified that gardens are life-sustaining businesses and may operate the current emergency, when non-essential businesses are closed.
- To clarify the use of gardens as essential services, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation developed guidelines for gardens on parkland. Any garden that is not implementing safe protocols can be closed by the department. Read their guidance for gardeners here.
- If you run a garden or farm with employees, you should provide employees with letters certifying that they are working as employees of an essential business that they can carry with them on their way to and from work and while working at the garden. Use the following template to draft a letter for your employees.
- What does this mean for community gardens? Gardens should use their own discretion about operating during the shelter-in-place but abide about regulations maximizing social distancing and reducing risks.
Guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture issued new guidance and recommendations for community gardeners on April 17. The guidance recognizes these gardens as critical to Pennsylvania’s local food systems. “May of these gardens fill a void and address food deserts.”
The Dept. of Agriculture recommends that gardeners wear cloth masks while working, and asks garden leadership to clearly communicate all new safety procedures. Read the full guidance here.
Recommendations for Community Gardens
- Continue growing food! Now more than ever we should be practicing local self-reliance and grow food for ourselves and the community.
Meetings
- If you have a garden meeting scheduled, do it by phone or web conferencing or simply post-pone. Gardens can easily open a free account with services like Zoom which can host up to 100 participants but limited to 40 minutes. If your site doesn’t have access to these technologies or needs help, let us know and we can gladly guide you or offer our support / conferencing services.
- Leverage other tech services like WhatsApp to spread awareness in appropriate languages to your clients, gardeners, etc.
Cleaning and Disinfecting
- Exercise an abundance of caution in the garden and follow these guidelines recommended by the CDC:
- Wear gloves and disinfect high-touch spots.
- Maintain social distance of six feet or more from others.
- Be mindful of frequently touched spots like gates, locks, water spigots, tools
- Plan a day to disinfect! Use diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol or other EPA-approved products. Viruses can be relatively long-lasting in the environment and have the potential to be transferred via food or food contact surface
- Have hand sanitizer and soap readily available in the garden. Create a sanitizing station in the garden. If hand sanitizer isn’t readily available, consider making your own.
- Limit sharing. Consider bringing your own tools for the time being as well as posting signs in the garden for people to a) wear gloves and b) always sanitize equipment after use.
- This is a given, but thoroughly wash all produce you harvest from the garden!
Social Distancing
- We understand it isn’t our nature, but restrict large gatherings at the garden. There is no reason people should be holding a party or barbecue at this time even if the weather feels right.
- Consider reducing risks for at-risk gardeners such as old gardeners, immune-compromised, etc.
- Close your garden to the public. Limit garden access to only members of the garden.
- If possible, avoid public transportation to get to your garden. We know travel can be an issue for some but consider alternatives like a bike, carpooling or something else.
- Stagger participation. This is more difficult, but if possible, consider how to stagger the involvement of folks in the garden to ensure managing social distancing. The City has told gardens that fall in the Parks and Recreation system to have no more than 5 people in a garden at once. Recognizing that gardens vary in size, layout, and use, consider the following recommendations for staggering.
- Set up a crop watering schedule – maybe assign gardeners to water the entire garden to limit the number of active people in the space. Consider no more than 4 or 5 people in a confined area.
- Create a schedule or slots for when people can come to the garden recognizing that there should be no more people than there is space to effectively execute appropriate social distancing.
- Limit the number of people in the garden at any one time to not exceed 20% of the number of garden beds.
0-10 garden beds = 2 people in the garden at a time.
11-20 garden beds = 4 people in the garden at a time
21 – 30 garden beds = 6 people in a garden at a time
31 – 40 garden beds = 8 people in the garden at a time
Recommendations for Farm Stands & Farmers Markets
If you plan to sell or distribute food, consider the following or see PA Dept of Ag recommendations:
- Separation of duties – cash / card person separate from food person.
- Minimize processing – no sampling
- Sanitation of equipment
- Provide ample hand sanitizer, disinfectant, wipes for skin and surface and wash stations.
- Glove etiquette! Do not reuse gloves after touching high-risk surfaces.
- Consider alternative delivery or customer spacing
- Reinforce health benefits of fruits and vegetables
Recommendations for Market Farms and Community Farming Organizations
Read this guide to on-farm food safety from Community Alliance with Family Farmers.
Read “You, COVID, and Your Farm Business,” from Growing Farmers
If you are interested in learning how to ship products from your farm, GrazeCart is opening their Perishable Shipping Course for 60 days at no charge to fellow farmers. This free access does not include live coaching calls or setup packages.
Resources for starting CSAs and other food delivery services
The following is a list of food delivery services and related software that work with farmers. If growers are interested in collaborating on group ordering, CSAs, or food hubs to serve their community and consumers with fresh food delivery, these may be useful tools. This list is also useful if you are looking to order deliveries of local produce.
LocalHarvest (to CSAs in your area)
Additional Resources
For additional information both local and beyond:
- FPAC- Connecting to Build a More Just Food System
- COVID-19 Resources for Farmers and Ag Service Provider Organizations
- FDA Coronavirus FAQs for Food Products
- Cornell Small Farms: Building Resilience in this Time of Crisis
- The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Responding to the Coronavirus Outbreak: Resources to Help Non-profits
- Coronavirus Communications: Examples, guidance, and resource for expanding the narrative
- Food & Land Sovereignty Resource List for COVID-19 (List compiled by Soul Fire Farm, Black Farmer Fund, and Northeast Farmers of Color) – a good list of resources including Philadelphia specific resources here.
- Coronavirus Resource Kit
- Philly Mutual Aid – Neighbors Helping Neighbors
- Looking to spread food access? Check out Philly Food Fooder and the City’s post.
- Complete the City’s survey: COVID-19 Impact on Workers
- Has your business been impacted by the pandemic? Take the survey from the City.
- Looking for grants or zero-interest loans for your business? Check out the Small Business Relief Fund while it’s still open from the City. FAQs here.
- NOTE: 3/27/20–Federal stimulus is becoming available via the SBA, with $377B earmarked for small businesses; stay tuned. More information from Congressman Dwight Evans office here. A legislative update is also available here. Also, tax filing deadlines are pushed back to 6/15 for both Federal and City (BIRT). More from the SBA.
- Agricultural Justice Project: Planning for Extra Care at your Farms: https://www.agriculturaljusticeproject.org/media/uploads/2020/03/25/Planning_for_Covid-19_on_the_Farm_FINAL_3.24.2020_OussGlm.pdf
Organizations that Can Help
For further questions, feel free to reach out to the following local organizations who may be of assistance.
- City of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation – Urban Agriculture Office
- Cooperative Gardens Commission – COVID-19 Victory Gardens
- Neighborhood Gardens Trust
- Pennsylvania Horticultural Society – communitygardens@pennhort.org
- Penn State Extension
- Philadelphia Orchard Project
- Public Interest Law Center
- Soil Generation
- Urban Tree Connection
This document is meant to be a living document of resources and recommendations for those growing food for themselves, their neighbors or others. If you would like to add a resource to this page, or if you see something on this page that appears to be inaccurate, please contact Jonathan McJunkin.