The measure has a natural champion in Ting, the former county assessor for San Francisco, which has a thriving urban ag scene. “During my time as assessor, I learned about, and was impressed with, the vibrant and growing community of people engaged in urban farming throughout San Francisco,” Ting wrote to me in an e-mail.

“When I was elected to the Assembly, I reached out to them [San Francisco’s urban farmers] to have a conversation about what could be done at the state level to encourage more urban farming. One of the obstacles they pointed to was the difficulty in accessing unused parcels of land because the high rate of taxation on those lands in urban areas made it financially infeasible for a landowner to allow farming on the property.”

This kind of law wouldn’t be so necessary in the shrinking Rust Belt cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia that are the epicenter of the urban farming movement. Land in those places is plentiful and often dirt cheap. But California is another story. The median home price in San Francisco is approaching $800,000.

In Los Angeles it’s $575,000 and in San Diego it’s just below half a million bucks. If you own an empty parcel here on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, you’d have to be just about crazy to let some hipsters grow tomatoes on your vacant plot rather than sell it to a developer.

Urban agtivists in San Francisco (a group in which I count myself) are cautiously optimistic that the law could open up some new properties for agricultural uses. One parcel that aspiring growers have their eye on is a full city block (about two acres) of abandoned greenhouses in the city’s Portola District.

The 17 greenhouses there have been out of operation since 1994. Before that, the structures were used for close to 80 years by a family named Girabaldi for rose production. Now a group called the San Francisco Greenhouse Project hopes to revitalize the property and bring back an agricultural enterprise to the neighborhood.

“When we stumbled across this parcel and started to develop an idea, we reached out to the various members of the family [who own it],” says Nik Reed of the Greenhouse Project. “Some of them were entertaining our vision. But some of them were skeptical.”

A re-evaluation of the property and a reduction in the family’s tax burden could help make a convincing argument for returning the spot to its agricultural roots. “If we were ever able to bring down the property tax costs, that would make a commercial enterprise possible,” says Juan Carlos Cancino, another Greenhouse Project partner.

A green space in place of busted up buildings would be a positive change for the neighborhood landscape. And also a positive change for San Francisco’s food system. Here’s Assemblyman Ting, right on message: “I see the urban ag movement as a strong link that brings a closer connection between people and the food we eat.  I believe it is important for the state to find ways to foster this very positive activity at the neighborhood level.

“Slow-local food tastes better, it’s healthier for you, and it’s better for the environment.  When I see these types of gardens sprouting up throughout the city I am inspired by them, and am committed to helping expand this movement.”

Originally published by Earth Island Journal.