Food security is a major concern, not only in developing nations, but in the United States as well.  Map the Meal Gap 2018 reports that 15.5% of Kentucky’s population is food insecure, which is higher than the national average of 12.9%.  57 of the 120 counties in Kentucky have food insecurity rates higher than the state average.  Individuals in food insecure areas may find it especially hard to travel farther to purchase healthy food if they live in a food desert.  A food desert is defined as a census tract with limited access to fresh and healthful whole foods due to a lack of grocery stores.  In some cases, the definition includes farmers’ markets and other healthy food providers.  The USDA has designated numerous census tracts in Kentucky as food deserts, including portions of Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, and Bowling Green.   One way that people improve their food security is through urban agriculture, which not only increases the amount of fresh food available, but can help to offset household expenditures on food, and may generate income if produce are sold. Urban agriculture can also provide a number of community benefits and recreational opportunities.   

One of the goals of Cooperative extension is to help urban farmers, especially limited-resource farmers, to produce in more efficient ways and make the best use of the resources available to them.  To this end, a pilot project was developed to examine relay cropping in small urban spaces.  Participating urban farmers would manage raised beds in which a series of 6 leaf green crops would be grown.  Leafy greens are known to be a high value crop in Kentucky and the use of relay cropping, a technique where one, fast growing crop is harvested and the next crop is immediately planted, would ensure continuous income. For the pilot project, Kentucky State University would provide the materials to construct the raised beds, the soil to fill them, and seed and fertilizer for all crops.   Extension personnel would install the raised beds and plant the first crop.  At each harvest extension personnel would, with the assistance of the farmer, harvest the crop, collect yield data, and plant the next crop.

In 2019 we were able to add a second participating farm to the project.   The first farm are the beginning back yard farmers in Frankfort, KY that started the project with us last year.   The second farm is an experienced urban farm in Berea, KY.  The first set of farmers became more hands on their participation this growing season, and by the end of the growing season were able to harvest and plant on their own.   The first farmers were also motivated to host a harvest event which was attended by a number of their friends and family.  During this event, the participating KSU professional and the farmers instructed the participants in how to harvest leaf lettuce and how to prepare the beds for the next crop and plant them (See Figures). The second farm, was provided seed but required no more help to complete the project.  Harvests at the first farm totaled 15 kg of leaf lettuce, 3 kg of arugula, 1.3 kg of mizuna (a heat tolerant Asian green), and 3.4 kg of mustard greens.  Because of the drought in the late summer, this was all that was harvested for this growing season at the first farm. The greens were left with the family and can be valued at a total of $773.61, assuming a farmers’ market price of $5.00 per bunch of 125 g.  This year, much of the non-marketable greens were also donated to a Wildlife Rehabilitation center, and fed animals there including rabbits. Harvest at the second farm totaled 152 lb of leaf lettuce, 36 lb of arugula (with significant flea beetle damage), 18 lb of mizuna (with significant flea beetle damage), 72 lb of mustard greens (with some flea beetle damage), 53 lb of Swiss chard, and 49 lb of Kale.  The greens harvested by the second farm had a couple of outlets when they were considered high enough quality, including the Farm CSA and members of the community.   This farm also incorporated the relay cropping project into their farm events, including educational and promotional activities.

Having the experienced farmers as a second site in the project has added valuable information.  We can now compare between the two sites with differing levels of experience. The experienced farmers were also able to give us feedback on the planting calendar that we will be using to adjust methods for the 2020 growing season to better match a growing strategy that works for farmers wanting a steady supply of greens.