Yes—And: Growing Food as Agency, Not Obligation
-A. Walker Thomas
The concern that urban farms and community gardens are a mismatch for addressing food insecurity points to something real: time poverty. When people are working hard just to keep the lights on, growing food can feel out of reach - and it should never be framed as a requirement or a moral test.
But that’s not what thoughtful urban agriculture work is asking.
Most effective food access efforts are built on a yes - and foundation: emergency food and long-term infrastructure, income supports and local production, dignity and choice. Urban agriculture isn’t about telling hungry people to “just grow their own food.” It’s about creating options - paid growing jobs, neighborhood food hubs, shared gardens, and even small acts of self-reliance that fit into real lives.
You don’t have to do everything to do something.
For some, that “something” might be a full community farm. For others, it’s a few herbs on a porch, fruit trees where ornamentals used to be, or edible landscaping that quietly produces food without demanding extra hours. These choices don’t replace wages, SNAP, or food pantries - but they do add agency.
Policy takeaway: food access strategies are strongest when funding supports both immediate relief and community-scale food infrastructure, rather than forcing programs to compete with one another.
No single intervention solves food insecurity. Not gardens. Not food banks. Not cash alone. But when we stop treating solutions as either–or and start layering them intentionally, communities gain both immediate relief and long-term resilience.
Growing food should never be an obligation.
When done right, it becomes an invitation - to choice, skill-building, connection, and self-determination.
Call to Action
At Growing Augusta: Arts, Agriculture & Agency, we focus on layered food access - supporting people today while building the infrastructure that makes tomorrow easier.
If you’re interested in practical, realistic ways to engage with food - whether through edible landscaping, community projects, or policy-informed advocacy - we invite you to connect with us.
This is a yes-and approach. And it works best when more voices are at the table.
Addendum: What This Means Locally
Locally, a yes-and approach means we stop pitting solutions against each other and start stacking them. It means supporting food pantries, EBT access, and prepared meal programs while also investing in neighborhood-scale food infrastructure—community gardens with paid coordinators, small urban farms, shared-use commercial kitchens, and edible landscaping in public and residential spaces.
It means recognizing that not everyone will grow food, and they shouldn’t have to—but those who want to should have access to land, tools, starter plants, and technical support. It means treating growing food as a form of agency and resilience, not a substitute for wages or public assistance.
And it means designing policies and funding streams that reflect how people actually live: busy, resourceful, and capable - when given real options.