Institute for Innovations in Local Farming—Farming in Philadelphia Feasibility Report—December 2007 Page 1
Introduction
The Institute for Innovations in Local Farming (IILF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, received a grantfrom the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to assess thefeasibility of developing a network of commercial, chemical-free farms in Philadelphia that wouldprovide the basis for a future agricultural economy in the City. This feasibility analysis assesses theeconomic, environmental and community impacts of such an agricultural economy on the City. IILFretained Urban Partners to complete this feasibility study, with supplementary information to be providedby IILF and other participants.Much of this report and analysis is based on and extrapolated from experiences at the Somerton TanksDemonstration Farm (STF), which is housed at the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) SomertonTanks facility in Northeast Philadelphia. Managed by IILF, STF is seen as a possible model to bereplicated at multiple Philadelphia sites.
The IILF/PWD Partnership
STF is a product of the partnership between the PWD—a public agency--and the non-profit IILF. In2001, PWD and IILF merged their strategic planning and agriculture expertise to work toward theirshared vision of a greener, healthier City, to help protect the city's waterways and to attract sustainableagriculture businesses to Philadelphia. It was felt that
what had held back urban agriculture in the pastwas the inability of urban farmers to sustain themselves economically. IILF and PWD believed that a trueexperiment in the economics of urban farming would provide valuable information to advance theprogress of urban agriculture in Philadelphia.
IILF’s Mission, Goal and Role
IILF’s mission is to encourage the establishment of a sustainable agricultural industry in Philadelphia.IILF’s goal is for Philadelphia to reap the economic, environmental and community benefits thatsustainable agriculture can bring to the City and its neighborhoods. IILF’s role with regard todevelopment of urban farming in Philadelphia has been to create the STF in conjunction with PWD, toemploy the farmers and to oversee the management of the Farm; to raise funds; to promote the concept of urban farming; and to begin to research land opportunities for commercial farming. IILF has recruitedfarmer interns for STF and provided agricultural and small business development training to the interns.Regarding land for farming in Philadelphia, IILF has sought to work with the City and other landholdersto identify appropriate sites and to encourage public or community entities to sell or lease suitable sites tofarmers. IILF is a small, all-volunteer organization with no paid staff.
PWD’s Role
In 1999, PWD begin exploring whether commercial chemical-free farm businesses could be economicallysuccessful on small parcels of urban land, such as the lawns surrounding PWD facilities. The Departmentdecided to explore this possibility by creating a commercial vegetable farm on its Somerton Tanksproperty. In the resulting partnership with IILF, PWD’s role includes planning, fundraising, implementingand overseeing the project. As landlord, PWD leased the land to the Institute for $1.00 and provided awide variety of in-kind contributions yearly. Based on this four-year-old successful experiment, PWD isencouraged that an agriculture economy can succeed in Philadelphia and the Department is activelyworking to lay the groundwork for this.
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