The National Urban Agriculture Initiative (NUAg) aims to increase the number of urban farmers who will learn about and utilize a variety of resources for finance, education, research and outreach to benefit their farm operations. Connecting farmers to the programs and services that are offered nationwide through USDA’s Farm Service Agency is a primary goal of this initiative.

Virginia State University, in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension and our Virginia Tech Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, is providing backbone support for The National Urban Agriculture (NUag) Intiative, bridging the gap for urban agriculture, a project funded through a cooperative agreement with USDA's Farm Service Agency. The project strategy includes:

  • Guidance and Planning. Advancing opportunities for USDA, project leaders, and cooperators from the pilot locations to come together for networking, education, discussion and learning.
  • Training and Technical Assistance. Developing tools and training for both USDA staff and pilot cooperators to build awareness, increase urban grower program participation, and connect them to resources that could help them identify and create new urban markets.
  • Evaluation and Assessment. Ensuring that activities meet the needs of all project participants through a series of culturally responsive, equitable and transformative evaluation processes.

Our Center is supporting through providing learning exchanges for the 17 organizations that received cooperative agreements from FSA to support urban producers in their region. We are also providing evaluation support for events of the NUAg inititive, the learning exchanges, and more. These findings will feed into recommendations that we will provide to USDA Farm Service Agency for how to better serve urban producers. 

National Urban Agriculture Conference

The National Urban Agriculture (NUag) Initiative is hosting a National Urban Agriculture Conference in Detroit, Michigan from August 4-6, 2024. Connect with USDA organizations and a diverse group of professionals whose work focuses on developing and strengthening urban agriculture initiatives in their communities. Learn about the transformative work being undertaken by the NUAg Initiative cooperating organizations that is aimed to “bridge the gap” for government programs across the United States and help build a sustainable future for urban food systems. Find more information on the conference website. 

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