UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of Penn State researchers will develop recommendations and protocols for the testing and management of soils for safe production of garden and food crops in urban settings, funded by a $100,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

The researchers — agronomists, soil scientists, and urban agriculture and community resilience experts in the College of Agricultural Sciences — will collaborate with the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (Farm Philly Program), Penn State Master Gardeners and Penn State Extension educators to identify a strategy for site-specific site assessment and testing guidance of key contaminants for Philadelphia growers.

“We are working to greatly improve site assessment strategies, a testing protocol that can help lower overall costs of testing, clear guidelines for soil sampling and interpretation of results, and best practices to minimize risk of exposure when working with soils in urban areas,” said team leader Patrick Drohan, professor of pedology. “In addition, we are identifying and evaluating community engagement strategies for greater soil education and knowledge application for working with low income, Black and Indigenous people of color, and other historically marginalized groups.”

Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding called the research a crucial investment in ensuring that Pennsylvania’s urban soils are safe for growing healthy, nutritious food to feed Pennsylvanians. “To feed the nearly 8 billion people on our planet, we’re changing where and how we grow food and who grows it,” he said. “Urban agriculture is increasingly important not only to expand our capacity to feed people, but to create jobs and improve food access and nutrition in urban areas.”

Philadelphia is no different than other U.S. cities, Drohan explained. Across the country, cities are seeing a drive to utilize vacant lands to support green infrastructure, aesthetic improvement, and perhaps most importantly community building and food production. However, identifying whether a site or soil is suitable, or safe to use, can be a complicated process akin to evaluating a person’s health.

As cities evolved through time, people made decisions about land use that left behind disturbance in the surface or subsurface that can affect use today, he added, such as fill from demolition of buildings, or sometimes pollutants or other chemicals that can harm human health.

“We need to let people know whether growing food in abandoned lots is safe and teach them how to do assessments that consider the historical characterization of what was there prior,” Drohan said. “That way, they're better informed about the appropriateness of what the soil can be used for today.”

More accurate and effective testing and site analysis will allow urban growers to avoid the worst problems with legacy contaminants, Drohan pointed out, and likely lower the costs of testing for unnecessary parameters. “It doesn’t make sense to reclaim some tracts because the cost of clean-up would be prohibitive,” he said. “Now having said that, most urban areas are not a problem. In most cities, most sites and most soils are not so contaminated that cannot be utilized for growing gardens or to support urban agriculture operations.”
 

Urban agriculture has a long successful history in in Philadelphia, noted extension educator John Byrnes, a team member who has been working with city officials for three decades. In 2018, extension estimated that Philadelphia has about 460 community gardens and farms comprising 113 acres of growing area, with an annual crop yield approaching 4 million pounds, worth almost $14 million. And, it could be much greater, he suggested.

“But I think it's reductive to talk about urban agriculture just in pounds of food grown and the dollar value of food,” he said. “It’s more significant than that. I think generally people understand that the benefits of urban agriculture are beyond just growing food. It is a powerful vehicle for cultural preservation and is a representation of the abundant diversity of our cities. We have known for decades that people benefit from green spaces and interaction with nature. Urban agriculture can also be a community-building solution and a tool for economic development and environmental restoration.”

Urban farms and gardens are gathering spaces for communities, he added. They are hotbeds of creativity and production, and they are safe, green spaces for youth and elders.

Team members on the grant include John Byrnes, Penn State Extension, Philadelphia; Patrick Drohan, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management; John Spargo, Agricultural Analytical Laboratory and Department of Plant Science; Justine Lindemann, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education; Jessica Schweiger; Master Gardener Coordinator, Philadelphia; Meghan Chawner, Extension educator in Lehigh and Northampton counties; and Beth Yount, Penn State Extension, Philadelphia.