Residents in Los Angeles’ Skid Row will soon be growing and harvesting their own fresh produce, thanks to the efforts of the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium and Horticulture and Crop Science Department at Cal Poly.

Students and faculty have cultivated 4,000 plants as part of a pilot project for Urban Farming Food Chain. The fruit and vegetable plants were grown on 180 vertical panels that will be mounted on walls of commercial buildings in Los Angeles’ inner city. The vertical panels are designed to maximize growing space in congested urban locations.The panels have turned into edible walls that are as much a work of art as they are a practical solution to providing access to fresh, affordable produce. In addition, the project aims to provide skills training and foster a sense of community beyond the garden walls, according to Hunter Francis, Program Associate, Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium.

Plants grown this first season include bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, strawberries, spinach, parsley, leeks, edible lavender and a variety of herbs. The panels will be installed at four locations around downtown  Los Angeles between July 29th and August 1.

The urban Farming Food Chain hopes to create vertical farming systems that can be replicated in cities across the country and abroad.  A collaborative community effort, the plants have been nurtured from seedlings donated by Greenheart Farms and Green Acres Lavender Farms with support from Farm Supply and transportation services donated by Meyer Trucking. For more information on the Urban Farming Food Chain Project, visit http://urbanfarming.org/foodchain.htm