Friends of Urban Agriculture (FOUA) is a 5013c nonprofit established in 2019 to build a resilient, community-driven urban agriculture sector in Arlington that provides a fair, healthy, and sustainable food system for all. FOUA is a 100% volunteer organization! FOUA is a wonderful NVCT partner, and our most notable collaboration has been the Terborgh Terrace Garden! We interviewed Emily Landsman, FOUA board president and communications director to highlight the important work FOUA accomplishes in Arlington and alongside NVCT!
1. How long have you worked for FOUA? How did that journey begin?
“I’ve always been a gardener, Grew up with it. Living in Arlington, I didn’t have space to garden because there’s not a lot of open space. I lived in an apartment and then a condo but still didn’t have any land, so I started gardening on my rooftop. I had to give it up at one point and donate all the items from my garden to Plot Against Hunger. That was in 2018, and that was the big catalyst for my getting involved with FOUA.” Emily had also previously volunteered with DC Central Kitchen. They would go out to area farms and “glean” which is the collection of excess fresh produce from farms, farmers markets, grocers, etc.
“I joined the Board of Directors in the summer of 2019, right as we became a formal non-profit. I became president in December 2023 and off the board this coming December because we built term limits to our board. I’ll still be active in plots against hunger, on different committees, and however else I fit in because I’m still dedicated to urban agriculture and the food security portion of our work.” Emily shared that the rooftop garden she once had is back up and running!
2. What does FOUA define as urban agriculture? Why is it important to NoVa?
“Here in Arlington, we don’t have any open spaces, any new space really. We are looking at any ways to grow things on unused pieces of land. People grow on their balconies and rooftops – there’s a small but growing industry sector of indoor agriculture where warehouse space is used. That’s our definition of urban agriculture. Gardening in what space that you have in an urban setting”
Emily also emphasizes that community is a significant aspect of urban agriculture. Community gardens run by Arlington County are ways to share land and grow food for themselves or others.
3. How does conservation factor into urban agriculture, in your opinion? What’s the intersection between our two worlds?
“to grow food, you need healthy systems. It’s not just the vegetables; it’s the native flowers that attract pollinators who can also pollinate vegetable flowers. If you start a garden, you should have tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers, but you should also have native flowers, things that bees enjoy, and even birds, things that will attract all of the nature needed for a healthy ecosystem. To have healthy food, you need open space, healthy water, and healthy air. There are so many factors that go into growing food. We see what happens when you clear-cut forests and don’t replenish any of the biodiversity. We see that healthy farms have wild sections where predators and small animals live, and trees can fall over and rot and become a new part of the soil. We need the entire system; those natural areas filter water and air, contributing to the food system. You can’t do any of this in a vacuum.”
4. How did the NVCT and FOUA collaboration come about?
“Amelia (NVCT Partnerships coordinator) emailed us after acquiring the Terborgh property. She wanted us to help build this garden, which seemed like a good fit. It fits perfectly with what we are doing and NVCT’s conservation efforts.”
“We were bringing the garden back to life”.
Something that stood out to Emily about the Terborgh Terrace Garden was that our collaborative project was true to the original use of the land. FOUA liked the idea of taking an otherwise unused property that could become more developed and transforming it into a community resource that minimally disturbed the land. “It’s maintaining its original integrity, with gardening we only go down 12-18 inches, the rest of it is untouched”
5. What do you feel FOUA gains from working with NVCT? How do you feel our partnership furthers urban ag?
NVCT’s partnership with FOUA allows us to give back to our community in more ways than just land protection. With FOUA we can build and promote community-driven conservation projects like the Terborgh Terrace Garden.
“This is a major partnership for FOUA as well, it is great to partner with an organization with the same interest in sustainability and biodiversity. Food production and conservation aren’t far apart; these systems need each other. Seeing that NVCT was so interested in working together was very exciting for us as a small fledgling organization.”
6. What are some specific successes you've experienced in working alongside NVCT?
FOUA often supports NVCT events like the Conservationists of Color read-a-thon and Leopold’s Preserve events, but our crowning achievement is the Terborgh Terrace Garden. Emily feels the same way. “Everyone was so excited that we moved in, we’re essentially building a park for everyone as opposed to more development. We are seeing that the community is becoming more involved. It will be used as an education space, a nature workspace, and a garden space; it’s a multi-use piece of land that we hope the neighborhood will see as a benefit.”
7. What are some of the positive impacts of FOUA that you’ve seen in your work?
Emily expressed that many people don’t think growing food to scale in an urban space is possible. While that may be true, there are still ways to make meaningful impact and grow food in urban areas. “last year was not a great year weather wise but, we had over 11,530 thousand pounds of Arlington-grown produce. We gleaned 51,000 pounds of produce from area farms and donated to food pantries in Arlington.”
In addition to food production, FOUA provides opportunities for community engagement and building. “we have volunteer opportunities and have seen communities get built around gardens. The Highland Urban Garden, located in Virginia Highlands Park, has become an amazing group of volunteers that live in the neighborhood, and we hope to replicate that kind of community they have built through the garden at the Terborgh Terrace Garden”
8. In your opinion, how does urban agriculture contribute to building a more sustainable future in Northern Virginia?
Emily spoke about how urban agriculture brings together multiple elements needed for community conservation and connection to nature, ultimately cultivating a respect for the resources land provides us. “Community gardens develop their own little teams, people like being outside; there are lots of mental health benefits to being outside. Being outdoors can be calming, and the activity of gardening can be exciting and rewarding, overall, it will make us a healthier society. You have a different respect for food, food systems, food, and ag workers, the root systems are cleaning the water, so much is happening that we don’t see, and we build a greater appreciation for it all when we get involved with urban ag work. Just because we are in an urban place doesn’t mean we can work with nature around us”
9. How do you envision the future of urban agriculture in Northern Virginia, and what role do you hope FOUA will play in that future?
“More use of underutilized land, make it easier for ag business startups and seeing urban agriculture become more of a serious activity rather than just a fun outdoor outlet. What is nice about clean-ups and invasive removals that NVCT does is that you can see your progress at the end of a workday, whereas gardening it’s a long term project. You don’t get to see the immediate results until about three months later; I would like to see more long-term volunteers so they could see their results!”
10. What’s the most rewarding part of working in urban agriculture for you personally?
“I like the community built around this group, I like being part of this group who enjoy talking about all these things. Some people have been gardening all their lives, others learned it just a few years ago, and others are brand new. Everyone is friendly and willing to teach eachother or learn from one another ”
It is readily apparent that while our mission’s may seem different, our worlds intersect more often than not. As Emily put it, “We’re going down different paths; ours is food insecurity, and yours is conservation, but they lead to the same place”. United we can create a sustainable future for all of Northern Virginia and we look forward to working toward that future with FUOA!
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