Mission & Values
Farm Philly, established in 2014, is the urban agriculture program of
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation.
Program Mission
Farm Philly’s mission is to connect residents to the natural world and provide opportunities for accessible physical activities while supporting the self-determination and sovereignty of communities to grow their own food. Farm Philly provides public programming, material resources, technical assistance, and support to urban agriculture projects (i.e. community gardens, farms, orchards, food forests) on parkland across the City. In addition to its activities within the City of Philadelphia, Farm Philly is active in state and national food policy advocacy. Fairmount Park Conservancy is Farm Philly’s non-profit fiscal sponsor that provides financial, technical, and on-the-ground support.
Value Statement
We envision a Philadelphia that supports gardeners, farmers, and residents’ ability to grow in spaces that nourish and heal their communities. At Farm Philly, we affirm Black, Indigenous, People of the Global Majority (BIPGM), queer and transgender, immigrant and refugee, poor, and working-class farmers doing this work.
Goals
- Support residents and communities to design and lead their own agriculture projects.
- Redistribute resources to communities impacted by historical and ongoing disinvestment, food apartheid, and displacement.
- Ensure equitable distribution of food produce on all public land.
- Commit to collaborative food policy development that elevates urban agriculture as a permanent, viable, productive land use in the City.
