Power in seeds: Urban gardening gains momentum in pandemic

By KATHERINE ROTH
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — For years, advocates of urban gardening have said that growing fresh food empowers residents of poorer neighborhoods, as well as improving their health. Those efforts gained momentum during the pandemic as worries about food insecurity grew. Areas with little access to healthy, fresh food tend to have high rates of diabetes and other diseases. In cities, many see the phenomenon as inseparable from deeper issues of race and equity. Current efforts include one in the Bronx, where community gardeners are coordinating their efforts to find and distribute affordable, fresh produce. In Los Angeles, urban gardening pioneer Ron Finley promotes the idea that gardening is both therapeutic and liberating.