Politics & Government

Legislators Plan Urban Agriculture Visit Tuesday in Maplewood

Members of Missouri's Joint Committee on Urban Agriculture will tour the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District and host a public meeting starting at 5:30 p.m.

Several Missouri legislators from the St. Louis area are expected to host a public meeting Tuesday in Maplewood as part of a fact-finding mission on urban agriculture and sustainability. The meeting will happen at 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium at .

Members of the Joint Committee on Urban Agriculture also are in the district, which has put a focus on sustainability by examining where its cafeteria food comes from and hosting chickens and bees, among other projects.

The three St. Louis-area members of the 10-person committee are Rep. Stacey Newman (D-), Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-University City) and Sen. Jim Lembke (R-St. Louis County). Lembke is the vice chairman of the committee. His district includes Sunset Hills, Mehlville and Oakville.

On Aug. 23, members of the committee visited Missouri State University in Springfield, where they learned about the Springfield Urban Agriculture Coalition, the Crane R-III School District and Urban Roots Farm, and heard remarks from a number of speakers.

Newman has hosted several farm-to-table dinners at her home recently. She uses local food to prepare them. But she said she has found that it is both expensive to prepare the meals and inconvenient to access the ingredients that go into them.

Those are some of the issues she and other legislators are exploring as part of the urban agriculture hearings that have been held throughout the state.

"It's just been amazing," said Newman, who attended hearings in Springfield and Columbia. "This report is going to be huge."

The committee plans to compile and submit a report from its four meetings, including one held earlier this year in Kansas City, to Gov. Jay Nixon in December, Newman said. By Feb. 1, at least one piece of legislation tied to urban agriculture—likely more—will be introduced for consideration during the new session of the Missouri General Assembly.

Food deserts are of concern in St. Louis, said Newman, referencing areas where food is scarce. Solutions the committee is exploring for use statewide include food hubs, where farmers can regularly bring and sell homegrown food, and public education about cooking.

Newman represents the district that includes the MRH School District and has toured its facilities in the past. She said she is "really proud" of the district and its work in sustainability, and she said committee members will tour the 's chicken area Tuesday before the public hearing to learn more about its efforts.

The meeting itself will resemble a public hearing at the Capitol, Newman said. Members of the committee and the urban agriculture subcommittee will hear testimony from a group of invited people. They also will ask questions of the speakers. The event is open to the public. Past hearings have run as long as three hours.

The current food industry isn't sustainable, making it necessary to examine how to eat in a way that is healthy, organic and affordable, Newman said. Financial assistance to small-scale farmers and others has been a recurrent theme, though that is a challenge given budget problems.

"We have to get much smarter," Newman said.

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