The Beginning of Something Big

Okay, so members of our team have been working on the issue of “food deserts” for several years now, but we’re about to head full tilt into a renewed, revitalized urban agrisystem for the South Dallas community. What’s a food desert? What’s an agrisystem?

A food desert is defined by the USDA as an “area or parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods.”  In urban areas the distance of one square mile is used.

An agrisystem is a term we’re coining to describe a holistic, economically-viable, community-centric, local & sustainable food “system” where things are grown, produced, eaten, composted & sold/distributed (and shared!) all locally, by local citizens who are employed within and because of it.

We’re not hipsters looking for a cool new app or packaging wild salmon dinners & organic kale salads into brightly-colored vending machines, we’re roll-up-the-sleeves, get deep into the community — and the dirt — citizens across a wide spectrum of professions bringing a diverse array of practical knowledge and know-how to reversing the problem of urban decay and blight — and reinvigorating our community, our city, and eventually making it something scalable and replicable for others.

Seedling Farm Master Gardener and Manager, Tyrone Day (middle) accepts a check from a representative of the Interlinc Family Foundation. Far right is Dr. Owen Lynch, founding member of the Restorative Farms team.