INDY Week - Community Gardens in Raleigh May Now Sell Produce On-Site

Read the full article by Leigh Tauss on IndyWeek

“It was very clear the city wasn’t prepared for farming inside of the city,” Purdue says.

Dissatisfied with that answer, Purdue took matters into her own hands. With the help of urban agriculture advocate  Jenn Peeler Truman, Purdue crafted a citizen petition requesting a text change that would alter the definition of a community garden to allow farm stands in residential zones, and brought her request before the council last August.

It was the council’s first virtual meeting following a summer of unrest due to COVID-19 and ongoing protests downtown. Most of the speakers were signed up to talk about the city and police department’s mishandling of the protests. But Purdue was there to talk about a farm.

“The sales of our organic produce to neighbors will support the health of the community and earn income for us to train new urban farmers,” Purdue matter-of-factly told the council. “Currently, the Raleigh UDO (Unified Development Ordinance) does not support the needs of our community garden or any community garden to open a produce stand.”

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Last week, in record time for municipal government, the Raleigh City Council unanimously approved the change, which permits urban gardens throughout the city to sell on-site what they grow.

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For Truman, who has long advocated for the expansion of urban agriculture throughout the city, the change is just the beginning. She plans to bring more requests to the council in the coming weeks.

“We really see this produce stand effort in the UDO as a first step,” Truman says. “There’s a list of other things Raleigh could be doing to be more friendly toward urban agriculture we’d like to see. This isn’t the only thing that needs fixing but it is an exciting first step to be fixed.”