by Jon Rappoport

March 7, 2017

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It turns out that gang killings and drugs are not the only markers of life and death in Chicago. Far from it.

If you consult the Chicago Urban Agriculture Directory, you find a staggering list of city farms and gardens where clean nutritious food is grown:

Urban Farms and Gardens in Chicago and Nearby
• 62nd & Dorchester Community Garden
• Academy for Global Citizenship School Garden
• African Heritage Garden
• Altgeld Sawyer Corner Farm
• Angelic Organics Learning Center Urban Initiative (Eat to Live Englewood Learning Garden, Urban Incubator Farm, etc)
• Bay Bay’s Peace Garden (Loud Grade Produce Squad)
• The Bayless Production Garden (Shores Garden Consulting)
• Benton House Backyard Botany
• Big Delicious Planet Kitchen Garden
• Bronzeville Community Garden
• Chicago Honey Co-Op
• Chicago Lights Urban Farm
• Chicago Patchwork Farms
• City Farm
• DePaul Urban Garden
• Dunne Technology Academy Mini Farm
• East Garfield Block Club Garden
• Eden Place Nature Center
• The Edible Gardens (Lincoln Park Zoo)
• El Paseo Community Garden
• Farmed Here
• Frankie Machine Community Garden (Wicker Park)
• Gardeneers School Gardens
• Gingko Organic Gardens
• Global Garden Refugee Training Farm
• GreenTown Waukegan
• Growing Power Chicago Farms
• Growing Home Farms
• KAM Isaiah Israel’s Farm and Gardens
• Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse and Community Garden
• Loyola University
• Metropolitan Farms
• The Millenium Neighborhood Garden
• Moah’s Ark
• The Mycelia Project
• Natalie G. Heineman Smart Love Preschool Garden
• Peterson Garden Project
• The Plant
• Pleasant Farms
• preSERVE garden
• Purple Leaf Farms
• Rainbow Beach Victory Garden
• Roots & Rays
• Roseland Community Peace Garden
• Rosemarie Rochetta Wessies Rooftoop Garden (Loyola)
• The Ruby Garden
• South Chicago Art Center’s Artists’ Garden
• The Talking Farm
• Third Unitarian Church Community Garden
• Timuel D. Black Edible Arts Garden
• Uncommon Ground Organic Roof Top Farm
• Urban Canopy
• Weiss Rooftop Farm (Loud Grade Produce Squad)
• Windy City Harvest (Chicago Botanic Garden)
• Xochiquetzal Peace Garden

And this is only a partial list. The Chicago Urban Agriculture Mapping Project has a much larger count, which includes private/residential gardens. Their total, which is constantly updated? 888.

I have written several articles about the needed expansion of urban farms across America, particularly in poverty-stricken communities, and how, with that expansion, there is a critical-mass point at which the basis of all life in those areas would be transformed in a positive revolutionary way.

Of course, not only do citizens participate in growing their own clean nutritious food and eating it, but they can sell the excess to markets and launch profit-making enterprises. True value for value.

Such an expansion would do more for those cities and communities, from coast to coast, than all the federal programs of the past 50 years, since Lyndon Johnson announced the US government War on Poverty. Trillions of dollars have been spent, with no true accounting. Who knows how much has been diverted and stolen. But the upshot is, conditions are far worse now, in many areas, than they were 50 years ago.

But in Chicago (and other cities), people have taken matters into their own hands. They’ve launched farms and gardens and they’ve endured and grown.

I’m trying to remember the last time Chicago Mayor Emanuel gave a major extended speech about local urban farms, their vital value, and the need for their expansion. Oh, never. That’s right.

And when did Barack Hope & Change Obama, George W No Child Left Behind Bush, Bill I Feel your Pain Clinton, and the other George Kinder and Gentler Bush deliver such a speech?

But to repeat, in Chicago (and other cities), people have taken matters into their own hands. They’ve launched farms and gardens, and they’ve endured and grown.

They haven’t waited. They haven’t waited for the politicians to catch up. Smart move.

It’s absurd to consider how, with an infinitesimal fraction of the funds poured out in the War on Poverty, every city in America could, by now, be flourishing in so many ways—through urban farms. Greater vitality, greater health, greater participation, greater profits, a greater citizen-stake in safe neighborhoods…

And those federal seed monies could have come in the form of long-term loans—all of which would have been paid back by now.

If Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon want to take a few minutes out of their schedule, they might consider a new idea people have known about since the industrial revolution…since, in fact, there were cities: growing food in urban areas—and what it could do to make America great again.

(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, Exit From The Matrix, click here.)

Jon Rappoport

The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29^th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his free OutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.