garden vegetables
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to include more gardens in its People’s Garden Initiative. If a school garden, community garden, urban farm, or small-scale agriculture project meets criteria such as benefiting the community, working collaboratively, incorporating conservation practices, and educating the public, it can be recognized as a “People’s Garden” by the USDA on its website.
How It Came About
USDA originally launched the People’s Garden Initiative in 2009. People’s Gardens grow fresh, healthy food and support resilient, local food systems; teach people how to garden using conservation practices; nurture habitat for pollinators and wildlife and create greenspace for neighbors. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said,
We welcome gardens nationwide to join us in the People’s Garden effort and all it represents [1].
Growers can register their gardens in a national database.
Promoting This Idea
Under Biden, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on equity, more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, and building new markets for farmers using climate-smart food practices [2].
Those participating in this idea will receive a People’s Garden sign for their yard.
Unsure?
On the other side, the Gilmer Mirror reported,
Those who have been following the USDA closely for years know that they couldn’t care less about your health and nutrition [3].
Response
Kathy Barnette tweeted her decision [4] on this matter and many responded to her tweet negatively. In this day of not trusting the government, why would one offer additional personal information to the government, that will possibly be used against him?
