Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District's Urban Programs
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From the NACD 2020 Annual Meeting. Learn about Jefferson County SWCD's urban agriculture conservation programs.
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Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District's Urban Programs
- 3. Urban Agriculture Conservation Initiative Launched 2016 with the following goals: ● Hire an Urban Ag Conservationist ● Provide Education about Season Extension and High Tunnels ● Cover Crop Education ● Convert Vacant Lots to Gardens ● Establish an Urban Buffer ● Provide Education to Local Schools and Churches ● Educate on Rainwater Reuse/Rain Barrels Program Focus: To connect more people to urban agriculture and local food production by helping them better understand their soil resources and manage them for sustainable production
- 4. Community Conversations Extension Office Metro Council Representatives Neighborhood Association Leaders Community Centers Community Garden Leaders Affordable Housing Organization Refugee Agriculture Program Leaders Social Justice Organizations Environmental Organizations FFA Programs Teachers and Agriculture Educators
- 5. Where We Ended Up... Program Focus: Our Urban Agriculture Conservation Initiative provides urban farmers and gardeners in Jefferson County with education and resources to produce food while regenerating our soil and water resources. We reach this goal through the following programs: ● Urban High Tunnel Initiative ● Urban Soils Initiative ● Urban Agriculture Coalition
- 6. Urban High Tunnel Initiative Launched with 2017 EQIP funding cycle with $20k additional investment from the city ● Smaller High Tunnels = More expensive Tunnel Size/Cost EQIP Cost- Share JC SWCD Cost- Share Farmer Cost 30’x72’ $11,891 $9,822 (83%) $1,237 (10%) $832 (7%) 15’x24’ $4,057 $1,623 (40%) $2,151 (53%) $283 (7%)
- 7. Nuts and Bolts - First Year ● Worked with NRCS Urban Conservationist to connect to EQIP ○ Recipients had to Quality for EQIP ● Simplified the Paper Shuffle ○ Brought FSA forms to applicants ● Outreach, Outreach, Outreach! ○ Neighborhood Meetings ○ Neighborhood newspaper ads ○ Metro Council District Newsletters ● SWCD provide $ and Technical Assistance ○ Created an additional, one-page agreement for SWCD cost-share contribution requiring 1 year of data
- 10. Collaboration: Knowledge, Support, and Resources ● NRCS ○ EQIP matching funds ○ Technical Assistance ○ Relationships ● University of Kentucky ○ Technical Assistance ○ Equipment ● Private Foundation ○ $95K for 2 years with $20k going towards SWCD technical assistance ● DM Williamson ○ IBC Tanks ● Local Church ○ Meeting space ● Louisville City Government ○ Cost-Share Funds ○ Meeting space ● Local, Rural High Tunnel Farmers ○ Farm Tours/Education
- 11. YEAR TUNNELS BUILT Tunnels in Food Insecure Area 2017 12 9 2018 22 14 2019 9 7 TOTAL 43 30
Editor's Notes
- Inspired by Cleveland, Ohio’s work on high tunnels we set out to increase the square footage of high tunnels by 15,000 square feet in two years. We built 27,700 square feet of tunnels in two years Partnering with the EQIP program meant we could leverage that funding to get additional. We already had a match and collaborating!
- Focus on food insecure, or food desert neighborhoods Track hours spent working in the tunnels Track amount of produce grown Track where the produce went
- NRCS and University of Kentucky Donated space, bought
- 45” of rain
- Started meeting with as many city council reps as possible during their budgeting session. Many were being introduced to the conservation district for the first time. We touched on our new program and asked how we could better serve their constituents. Met with 13 of the 26, most of whom were on the budget committee We secured an increase to cover my position. The next year, we were able to show we had additional foundation funding to cover a portion of my position for the next two years. We also started building a relationship with the economic development department, under which we are funded. If they didn’t understand the importance of our work, how could they go to bat for us? But now they just got hit with a large state pension bill so the increases are less likely to happen and we are just hoping we won’t get cut
- Reaching those that matter (70%) Got out of the office and went to them Went to meetings that were not about our topic but where we could share information Experienced, personable black man in predominantly black neighborhoods Simplified the paperwork for the applicants