by 
Share On Social!
When families don’t live by a full-service grocery store, it can be hard to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, leaving many kids hungry and without proper nutrition. But what if you could grow fresh fruits and vegetables right in your back yard and sell them to a neighbor in need? In Atlanta, some zoning code changes are allowing folks to do just that. 
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed signed legislation in June 2014 that establishes the city’s first urban gardens and market gardens ordinance to address food deserts.
The ordinance, which was approved by the Atlanta City Council on June 2, will help to eliminate food deserts and expand access to healthy and affordable produce by allowing urban gardens and market gardens to operate in residential zoning districts. Prior to the ordinance, urban gardens and market gardens were only permitted for use in commercial and retail zoning districts.
Now, more folks can grow and sell fresh, healthy produce to hungry customers straight from their doorstep.
“Operators of urban gardens or market gardens now have a blueprint for what is allowed and what is prohibited in the City of Atlanta,” Commissioner James E. Shelby of the Department of Planning and Community Development, said in the news release. This is a major step toward helping isolated neighborhoods in the City have better access to healthy, fresh, and more affordable food.”
By The Numbers
1
Supermarket
for every Latino neighborhood, compared to 3 for every non-Latino neighborhood
