Printer-friendly Format

For more information about any of Community CROPS programs, e-mail at cropsinnebraska@earthlink.net or visit the Web site

Community Combining Resources, Opportunities, and People for Sustainability (CROPS) is a Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society project. It began in 2002 with one Lincoln Community Garden. This year, it will include four gardens and a new four-acre community farm!

The project increases food security for refugees, immigrants and low-income people in Nebraska through asset-based community development that provides resources and technical assistance to grow, market and add value to agricultural products. Community gardens can also be a tool in neighborhood revitalization. Thirty-three community partners make Community CROPS possible, along with funding received from grants.

Community Gardens

In 2004, Community CROPS' Community Garden Network served 32 families, as well as another 45 gardeners without families (single adults, youth, homeless and Fresh Start women). The country of origin of the participants included the former Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Peru, Brazil, Sudan, Iraq (Yzedi's), Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and the United States.

Community CROPS offers free gardening space, materials, tools and education at four community gardens in Lincoln:

• P Street Garden located at 23rd and P Street,
• 46th Street Garden located at 46th and Pioneers,
• Sumner Community Garden located at Antelope Park
• Church of the Brethrens (Sumner and Normal Blvd.),
• Women's Garden located at 28th and S Street.

The Gardener Outreach Project within Community CROPS, spawned a wide range of community and gardener outreach during the 2004 growing season. These projects included:

• A partnership with Fresh Start, a homeless women's transition program, to reap the harvest at the Women's Garden.

Fresh Start women planted, tended and cooked the vegetables and herbs grown. They also donated their surplus produce to St. Monica's, a substance abuse treatment center for women. Over 500 meals had fresh vegetables added thanks to their hard work.

• Saint Paul's Methodist Church sponsored a plot for the homeless to be planted at 23rd and P Street. Once a week, volunteers went to the local day shelter to recruit and work with homeless gardeners who tended, grew and ate their bounty.

• Grow! Grow! Garden Club is a group of Prescott Elementary school students learning about composting, eco-systems and gardening.

Sunset Community Farm

A new four-acre community farm located on SW 40th, Sunset Community Farm, will consist of garden plots maintained by community members. So far, six businesses comprised of refugee and immigrant farmers from Sudan, Guatemala, Central America, Bosnia and Iraq are signed up to work on the farm. All produce will be raised organically (without pesticides) and sold through Community CROPS' shareholder program.

Fresh Produce Delivered Weekly

Lincoln residents have the exciting option to buy a "share" of Sunset Community Farm's summertime harvest and receive an amazing array of the freshest seasonal vegetables and herbs! Shareholders have farm fresh vegetables delivered to a convenient pickup point in their neighborhood once a week for 15 weeks for a reasonable cost (mid-June to late September).

The selection of the produce will change from week to week, as does the total volume and weight of the boxes. The goal is to weekly fill a 3/4 bushel box to the brim - equivalent to 1-1/2 regular paper grocery sacks.

Pick up points will be announced in May after all the shares have been purchased. There will be a five-hour window for shareholders to pick up their produce box from the designated site. Home delivery is available for an additional small weekly fee.

A Farm Tour Schedule will be announced so shareholders can visit Sunset Community Farm.

Share a "Share"

Individuals can choose to purchase an entire "share" in the Community CROPS' shareholder program and donate half of their weekly 3/4 bushel box to a family who can not afford fresh vegetables. Community CROPS will work with the multicultural centers and Fresh Start Home to match donors with donation recipients.

Educational Outreach

Community CROPS provides educational outreach to multiple audiences through workshops, presentations, newsletters and after-school programs. Topics include gardening, nutrition and cooking, increasing food security opportunities in Lincoln, and more.

Get Involved!

For more information about any of Community CROPS programs, e-mail at cropsinnebraska@earthlink.net or visit the Web site

Community CROPS - An Idea Grows into Reality

Community CROPS is a project started in 2002 as a Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society (NSAS) AmeriCorp project. The purpose of the project was to create a dialogue between consumers and producers. Andy Witkowski, the NSAS AmeriCorp member, chose a community garden as the way to facilitate the conversation. He named the project the "Lincoln Community Garden" and found space at the corner of 23 and P Street.

The lot had essentially been a parking lot for the city's heavy equipment. Garbage, old tires and other waste littered the space. In the growing season of 2003, the area was transformed into a garden -- growing food for 35 gardeners representing seven nations from around the world.

Over the course of the growing season, Witkowski asked himself several questions: How could more gardens be created? How could refugees and immigrants use growing food as a means to increase their economic security? How could they get more community investment in the gardens? In his quest for answers, Witkowski began working with Kim Matthews, a grant writer for Lincoln Action Program (LAP).

In November 2003, they developed a three-year plan for Community CROPS. The plan increased the community gardens in 2004, developed a refugee/immigrant farmers initiative in 2005, and plans to increase consumer education in 2006.

For more information about community programs, contact:

Yelena Mitrofanova, Extension Educator
e-mail: ymitrofanova2@unl.edu
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in Lancaster County
444 Cherrycreek Road, Suite A, Lincoln, NE 68528.
Phone: 402-441-7180

(This resource appeared in the February 2005 NEBLINE Newsletter. For information on reproducing this article or using any photographs or graphics, read the Terms of Use statement)

Return for more resources