Short on workers and funding, there might be not be much of a harvest this year at Sudbury urban farm

What should be a field of plenty for an inner city neighbourhood in Sudbury is in danger of being overcome by weeds this summer.

The Flour Mill Community Farm has been a growing concern since 2017, a source of affordable fruit and vegetables to people in nearby social housing. 

But ReThink Green, the organization that oversees the farm, was surprised to not get the usual provincial funding this year to hire young people to work in the garden.

Executive director Leigha Benford said last year they were able to hire a dozen young people, full- and part-time, to plant, till, weed and take care of the 2,500 square foot plot that is built on a former parking lot.  

They've employed 60 people since the urban farm was started.

For many, she said, it's a first job, and a way to start accumulating work experience.

The farm grows all kinds of produce from herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers and zucchini and even raspberries, all offered at a weekly market stand for whatever people can afford to pay, with any excess given to the food bank.

"We produced almost 2,000 pounds of food last year for the community," said Benford.

This year, the organization only has funding for two workers, and so far planting is behind, she said.

"The lack of students and not having the hands in the fields, it's going to impact how much food we can grow," she said.

ReThink Green is launching an appeal to fundraise $15,000 to hire another two workers, but Benford said volunteers are also welcome.

The garden is usually a gathering place as well for the residents of a nearby subsidized apartment building and townhouses, and can lead to some cross-cultural education with immigrants.

"Last year there was a lady and her family that used zucchini leaves in soup," said Benford. "She was able to tell a little bit more about the uses and the kind of properties and the nutrients that were in the actual leaves, which is something that we would throw away. So that was pretty cool to learn that there's a use for something that would typically just go in our compost bin."

The farm's manager, Destiny Roy, who studied environmental science at Laurentian University, said she thrives on the educational aspect of her job and passing on what she knows to other young people.

"Not only do I get to teach them about growing their own food, but about climate change, about the amazing story of the regreening in Sudbury, and about urban agriculture. So it's just a wonderful experience both for myself and for the students," she said.

Quietly, in a back row of the farm, volunteer Alan Sieve pulls weeds that threatened to choke out small transplants.

He is a volunteer who has found peace and purpose at the garden, but says he's saddened to not be able to work with as many young people this summer and the chance to inspire them to learn how to feed themselves. 

"It's an art that's been lost, and people don't do that so much anymore, and I don't know why. Food prices are so high," Sieve said.