North St. Louis County farmers are close to seeing $3.2 million in county funding that would help build out urban farms and put more fresh fruits, vegetables and other produce on thousands of tables in their communities.
County Bill 54, sponsored by Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-St. Louis County, could be approved Tuesday by the St. Louis County Council. It would provide funding to Rustic Roots Sanctuary in Spanish Lake to help support programs and services that could enhance north county’s local food systems and provide long-term solutions to food insecurity in the area.
“We're breathing life back into this community,” Webb said. “Being able to let people use their hands to grow good food and to sustain a good life means so much to people.”
Trying to lure big grocery store chains to north St. Louis County has been a longstanding effort for Webb. After Shop ‘n Save left the Spanish Lake area in 2019, Webb said it created a fresh grocery desert. When she took office in 2020, she started meeting with other supermarket chains like Dierbergs, Walmart, Target, Trader Joe’s, Kroger and Whole Foods Market. She heard from some executives that the old grocery store space was too small, a new store in the area was not in their five-year plan, and the community needed to densify before a large chain would open.
Webb became concerned about the residents' lack of access to healthy food options. She spoke with Rustic Roots Sanctuary farm owner Janett Lewis about creating a plan that included local farmers and their crops.
Lewis and farmers presented a three-point plan to the county council last December. The plan noted that many urban farmers in north St. Louis County need access to funding to build out their farms and assist with sustainability. They also want to teach the next generation of growers through an agri-village with two-year farmer residencies and build a harvest hub to keep commercial equipment and store produce in cold spaces.
Willowick Farm STL, Heru Urban Farming, Coahoma Orchards, Confluence, Odds and Ends Farm and Rustic Roots Sanctuary would directly benefit from the proposed legislation.
North county farmers have been providing food to their communities for years. Both Lewis and Webb said local farmers became essential during the pandemic and again with the rising cost of eggs and produce.
“While I am fighting to get big groceries to come to our community and serve our community, [we] have a trusted, credible food source, a healthy food source for our community,” Webb said. “Now, it's not all things, but good fresh produce is a great start.”
The county council initially earmarked $5 million in ARPA funding to assist with food insecurity but did not disburse the funds before its Dec. 31 deadline, so the council moved the funding to the general revenue fund.
This plan would help offset some rising food prices, bring jobs to the community, build up local food hubs and produce hundreds of thousands of pounds of food for north St. Louis County residents, Lewis said.
“If you look at Detroit and Kansas City, they have these things in place already, and because of it, they're able to pump more nutrition into the bodies of their communities, and that's what we need to do … really make our communities healthy,” Lewis said.
Bill 54 was introduced last month, and dozens of north county residents and some farmers in the St. Louis area spoke during public testimony about the benefits of the bill. Some residents who have been purchasing items from various area farms said their fresh produce helps manage their health and brings nutritious meals to their tables without making them driving out of their way to a grocery store.
During the March 25 council meeting, one Old Jamestown resident said she buys goat milk, eggs, pork and other organic foods from Willowick Farm in Spanish Lake because preservatives in her food would exacerbate her health conditions.
Odds and Ends Farm owner Vince Lang said during that meeting that the bill would create visibility for local farmers and ranchers since many people do not know who they are.
“We may not agree on all the many solutions to the problems that we face, but I believe we can agree that it's more practical to produce as much food as we can on available lands within our community than it is to import from across the country or from out of the country, especially in a crisis situation,” Lang said.
Webb said if this bill passes, it would be one of a kind because the council has never given money to local farmers to help create more farming opportunities and fresh food options for north county residents.
“It'll set a precedent,” Lewis said. “We need more local governments and municipalities to back the local farmers because we can build strong food systems. We just need access to the resources.”
The bill is slated for final passage by the county council on Tuesday.
