Director-General tours urban gardening project in California
©FAO/Jordan Strauss
08/11/2024
Los Angeles - Director-General QU Dongyu toured an innovative grassroots project to promote urban gardening here on Friday.
He used a short layover on his return from the SIDS Pacific Forum in Fiji to visit L.A. Green grounds, a volunteer organization dedicated to enabling residents of South Los Angeles to create their own edible gardens.
L.A. Green Grounds, a partner of the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), uses “dig-ins”, gardening classes, a Teaching Garden and other community outreach initiatives to help those interested to convert their lawns into organic vegetable plots.
Brent D. Hales, Associate Vice-President of UCANR, accompanied Qu on the visit.
Florence Nishida, a retired teacher who started what is now L.A. Green Grounds more than 15 years ago, gave a presentation in the importance of growing culturally relevant vegetables. She and other master gardeners spoke with the Director-General about the importance of helping underserved communities learn to grow their own healthy food.
The visit included further presentations by the local 4-H branch and a nutrition education program, while senior officials from the state extension service joined Qu for lunch.
“Science is not only for the scientists, but also for the people,” the Director-General said.
FAO strongly endorses urban gardening through its Green Cities Initiative, which recently broke new ground in Cameroon and Namibia, and has incorporated the role of cities in its broader strategy of sustainable transformation of agrifood systems.
The Teaching Garden at L.A. Green Grounds is unique in its focus on a variety of uncommon or “ethnic” vegetables and herbs that help expose people to new food, as well as on native plants that can provide habitat for wildlife and offer drought-tolerant landscaping options.
He used a short layover on his return from the SIDS Pacific Forum in Fiji to visit L.A. Green grounds, a volunteer organization dedicated to enabling residents of South Los Angeles to create their own edible gardens.
L.A. Green Grounds, a partner of the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), uses “dig-ins”, gardening classes, a Teaching Garden and other community outreach initiatives to help those interested to convert their lawns into organic vegetable plots.
Brent D. Hales, Associate Vice-President of UCANR, accompanied Qu on the visit.
Florence Nishida, a retired teacher who started what is now L.A. Green Grounds more than 15 years ago, gave a presentation in the importance of growing culturally relevant vegetables. She and other master gardeners spoke with the Director-General about the importance of helping underserved communities learn to grow their own healthy food.
The visit included further presentations by the local 4-H branch and a nutrition education program, while senior officials from the state extension service joined Qu for lunch.
“Science is not only for the scientists, but also for the people,” the Director-General said.
FAO strongly endorses urban gardening through its Green Cities Initiative, which recently broke new ground in Cameroon and Namibia, and has incorporated the role of cities in its broader strategy of sustainable transformation of agrifood systems.
The Teaching Garden at L.A. Green Grounds is unique in its focus on a variety of uncommon or “ethnic” vegetables and herbs that help expose people to new food, as well as on native plants that can provide habitat for wildlife and offer drought-tolerant landscaping options.