Conference News

Land Trust Secures Vacant Lots for Urban Agriculture, Recreation in LA’s Underserved Neighborhoods

December 19, 2014 | seedstock

Photo courtesy of the LA Neighborhood Land Trust

Founded in 2002, the LA Neighborhood Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that identifies underutilized space in a 475-square miles area in and around Los Angeles, and transforms it into green space for urban agriculture and community recreation projects.

Real estate costs are high in Los Angeles, so the work of the Trust moves forward one small lot at a time.

“Our little land trust is good with conserving half-acre properties and creating green space in a community that has never existed before,” says Mark Glassock, director of special projects for the Trust. “In terms of our acreage, we are quite small, but in terms of our impact and our reach in terms of population, I believe we’re actually very, very large.” Read More

Sustainable Momentum and Local Food Demand Drive Co-op’s Development in Riverside

November 19, 2014 | AJ Hughes

Riverside Food Co-op’s Crop Box is featured at this Co-op exhibit. The Crop Box, offered monthly to Co-op members, includes numerous in-season fruits, vegetables and greens. (photo courtesy of Diana Hyatt/Riverside Food Co-op)

The Riverside Food Co-op is not only increasing access to locally-produced foods in Riverside, California, but the organization is also bringing other entities together toward this cause.

Riverside was hit hard by the Great Recession, and according to Nick Melquiades, a member of the Co-op’s CORE (Community of Outstanding and Resourceful Entrepreneurs) Team, the Riverside Food Co-op was borne from those difficult times.

“The Co-op formed in response to the recession in Riverside, including real estate foreclosures and a bad economic climate,” Melquiades says. “We needed something more independent.” Read More

To Reinforce Gardens Riverside Brings in Org to Work with Community

November 18, 2014 | AJ Hughes

Viviana Franco is founder and executive director of From Lot to Spot, an organization that spearheads efforts for more community gardens and green space throughout Southern California. photo courtesy of Viviana Franco/From Lot to Spot

Los Angeles-headquartered From Lot to Spot is true to its name—the organization transforms unused, vacant lots into vibrant spots of green space and parkland.

According to founder and executive director Viviana Franco, From Lot to Spot has spearheaded several urban and community garden initiatives throughout Southern California, including several in Riverside.

Franco says Riverside hired From Lot to Spot as a partner in building up the gardens, specifically in capacity building and leadership processes. These gardens include Tequesquite Community Garden, Arlanza Community Garden, and East Side Community Garden at Emerson Elementary School. Read More

Presentation: The Potential of Regional and Local Agriculture to Generate Economic and Social Returns

May 7, 2014 | seedstock

The following presentation, which was given by Dr. Glenda Humiston, California State Director for U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, looks at the vast opportunities out there to generate economic and social return by leveraging and promoting local and regional agriculture assets. The presentation was given at the Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond! conference on March 19 – 20 at The Riverside Convention in Riverside, CA.

‘Grow Riverside’ Conference Presentations Posted to Growriverside.com; Seattle’s Local Food Action Initiative

April 2, 2014 | seedstock

Over the next couple of days, we will be posting the presentations from the conference. For those of you not in attendance, the presentations from the conference explore local food and urban agriculture from the policy, technology, farm-to-school and market opportunity standpoints. The presentation below was put together by Richard Conlin, who served four terms on the Seattle City Council, from 1998 to 2013, and developed the Local Food Action Initiative to increase Seattle’s access to nutritional foods, reduce costs for farmers bringing their produce to markets in Seattle, and strengthen the security of our food supply. He also founded and currently co-chairs the Regional Food Policy Council.

Stay tuned for more presentations in the days to come!

UC Riverside Takes Active Role in Promoting Community and Local Food Systems at ‘Grow Riverside’ Conference

March 26, 2014 | Robert Puro

UC Riverside, a sponsor of last week’s ‘Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond’ Conference, played a large role in shaping the conference proceedings and contributing concrete ideas and steps to help the City of Riverside develop local agriculture strategies and solutions to reconnect with its agricultural roots and foster a robust and sustainable local food future.

Fortino Morales III, Director of the UC Riverside Community Garden, a 3-acre community garden on UCR’s campus, participated on the ‘Local Ag Growth Strategies’ panel on day one of the conference. The panel looked at the infrastructure needed to grow new farmers from educational programs and farmer training to incentives for entrepreneurs and more. Read More

Over 400 Attendees Gather at Sold Out Grow Riverside Conference to Drive Local Food System Development in City

March 21, 2014 | seedstock

If ever there was doubt about the interest, desire and motivation among the citizens of the City of Riverside to develop local agriculture strategies and solutions to reconnect with their agricultural roots and create economic opportunities that growers, advocates, government officials and other major stakeholders can leverage to foster a robust and sustainable local food future, it was allayed at the SOLD OUT ‘Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond!’ Conference Conference that took place at the Riverside Convention Center on March 19 – 20.

A diverse array of over 420 attendees from growers, ag entrepreneurs, local food advocates and distributors to City of Riverside officials, university students and professors from across California, business executives and California FFA members from Horte Vista High School were on hand to hear from some of the most innovative thinkers, experts and practitioners in the local and urban agriculture sphere.

The conference will return next year on March 5 – 6, so mark your calendars! In the interim, please stay tuned to GrowRiverside.com to learn about outcomes-focused activities, actions and initiatives that you can be involved with to help shape the future of the local food and agriculture in the City of Riverside.

Below is a gallery of images, tweets, facebook and instagram posts that summarize what took place at the game-changing Grow Riverside: Citrus and Beyond! conference.

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Grow Riverside is SOLD OUT!!!!! Live Streaming!

March 18, 2014 | seedstock

Grow Riverside has sold out! The event will, however, be streamed live via Ustream. So, if you can’t be there in person, you’ll still be able to watch the proceedings!

To stream the event live, go to https://new.livestream.com/accounts/6862664/events/2851208 at 8:30am tomorrow!