As Buncombe County population grows, interest in urban agriculture and local food production continues to rise. While urban agriculture can be hard to define, it typically centers on local food production in urban regions for local community use. Operations range from micro-farms to community gardens and might be in areas not typical of agriculture such as vacant lots or brownfields. Urban agriculture also includes innovative and nontraditional farming techniques such as hydroponics, vertical gardening, and controlled environments. Ultimately, urban agriculture encourages broader contributions to the food system through either commercial or non-commercial models.

Urban farms are those farms located in urban regions that produce crops or livestock. The USDA defines a farm as a place that produced and sold at least $1,000 of agricultural product. They tend to be innovative in nature utilizing non-traditional growing methods on limited space. They also tend to be diversified operations that focus on specialty crops or niche markets. Urban farms can also face unique challenges such as land and water access, soil contamination, and limited space.

There are several active community gardens in Buncombe County. There are two styles of community gardens, allotment and communal. The allotment gardens typically offer plots for rent to individuals for their personal use and individuals come together to share tools, extra produce, and workdays for common areas of the garden. Communal gardens are maintained by a team of volunteers and then the produce is either split amongst the volunteers and/or donated to the community or a non-profit organization.

If you are a community garden leader or looking to start one, please check out the community garden handbooks and other resources below. If you have additional questions, please contact our Urban Ag Agent, Rachel Douglas at rachel_douglas@ncsu.edu or 828-255-5522. You can also sign up for community garden updates here.

Asheville has lots of wonderful restaurants and some have started to incorporate gardens at their location. This type of urban agriculture add to the restaurant ambience and culture and allows the restaurant to grow specialty items for their seasonal menus.