Mercer Times

It used to be a dumping ground but the abandoned property on North Clinton Avenue in Trenton, New Jersey, has become a beautiful green space.

Thanks to D&R Greenway Land Trust, Capital City Farm grows lavish fruits, vegetables and flowers that residents of Trenton, including the urban community, can benefit from. 

“It has raised people's spirits to have a place without barbed wire or a broken chain-link fence surrounding it,” said Linda Mead, president and CEO of D&R Greenway Land Trust. “Instead, you see this green space that’s a source of pride for the community and brings with it a sense of beauty and happiness.” 

D&R Greenway Land Trust launched the urban farm with private donations five years ago.

“We're now in the process of turning the property over to a new nonprofit that has formed for the purpose of managing Capital City Farm into the future,” Mead told Mercer Times. “They will expand some of the sources of funding to include additional contributions from private foundations and individuals.”

Urban farming is different than a community garden in that it produces food for distribution to the community or is sold at a discount.

“A community garden is when you have a communal garden plot and people grow their own produce for their own use,” Mead said. “Capital City Farm is an urban farm that employs farmers and farm managers who grow different types of produce that are then distributed in various ways throughout the community. We give the produce away to people from the community who stop in at the farm and have a need or interest in learning how to eat healthy.”

Next door to Capital City Farm is the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and prior to launching, Mead says, there wasn't much healthy local produce available.

Today, the farm grows more than 1,000 pounds of produce in dozens of fruit and vegetable varieties, according to media reports, with more than 80 percent donated to the neighboring soup kitchen so that fresh salad can be offered. Leftover produce is sold at a farmer's market.

“We are committed to hiring people from the local neighborhood,” Mead said. “Some of our patrons who have become very active with the farm, that have been hired, were clients of the soup kitchen or they live close by. We’ve been able to teach them about farming and they’ve learned a new trade by working the farm.” 

Since the property was purchased, about $200,000 in infrastructure was implemented, according to Mead, and it was funded by a business grant.

“One of the most significant things that has happened is that this group has formed around the urban farm and around the idea of creating positive space within an urban neighborhood,” Mead said. “The best result is when local people come together to turn the urban farm into a sustainable long-term effort and that's what's happening here.”