According to Bill S . 3420 ( the actual document as seen with the 114th congress ), there are four key titles to the Urban Agriculture Act :
TITLE I : Outreach , Coordination , and New Policy
Title I of the Urban Agriculture Act sets the stage and structure for the functionality of the Office of Urban Agriculture . The Office of Urban Agriculture will advise the United States Secretary of Agriculture , Sonny Perdue , about the ins and outs of urban farming . The hope is that the Office of Urban Agriculture will be able to demonstrate the societal benefits — both environmental and financial — to Perdue and his decision-making peers on Capitol Hill , eventually solidifying the importance of this movement within the currents of the mainstream . According to the Act , the office will be comprised of 15 members sourced from unique backgrounds , including urban ag farmers , farm-to-school authorities , college professors , urban planners , environmentalists , business people , public health experts , and traditional farmers . This diverse conglomeration of office members will devise urban agriculture policies on a national scale and will coordinate communications between urban farmers and the USDA . Agendas included in this portion of the Urban Agriculture Act are community garden programs , rooftop agriculture and outdoor vertical production programs , urban agriculture review programs , and urban agriculture impact studies . Generally , the motivation behind these programs is to structure the urban farming industry in a fashion that is easily recordable for both environmental and financial efficiencies , and to develop new policies in the future according to these findings .
TITLE II : Farm Enterprise Development
The second section of the Urban Agriculture Act sets the stage for streamlining and growing the urban farming movement into a full-scale production industry by way of business planning and development . While the notion of industrial expansion within a grassroots movement can seem somewhat alarming , the verbiage of the section emphasizes the business education of small-scale urban farmers . The bill should set the stage to give artisanal crop producers the knowledge and confidence to make sound business decisions , eventually establishing a self-sustaining economy within the society of urban horticulturists . The farm management and professional development program of Title II creates a mentorship program between established agribusiness professionals and small , upstart urban farmers . With this hands-on approach to tutelage , legislators hope that more people will be attracted to the urban farming sector , in time turning it into an established community of well-informed business professionals . Topics covered in the program include business acumen , marketing , recordkeeping , risk mitigation , and credit management . Lastly , Title II expands the current Farm Bill to include urban farming operations for the allowance of government subsidies relating to urban agriculture cooperatives , risk management , and expanded loans for farm equipment . These welfare programs will give urban farmers many of the same financial breaks and benefits seen with the Farm Bill and traditional agriculture .
TITLE 111 : A Healthier Environment
In perhaps the most forward-looking section of the Urban Agriculture Act , the proposed legislation of Title III sets to entwine environmental conservation efforts with various elements of urban farming . For most urban agriculturists , this section ’ s emphases on subsidized soil conservation programs , healthy eating , and communal farming efforts aligns closely with the ideals from which the urban farming movement originally manifested . grow cycle 89