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Ask kids where the broccoli they turn their noses up at comes from, they’ll probably say “the supermarket”. (Sadly, many adults might say the same.) Of course, that broccoli actually comes out of the soil, mostly likely the soil of Big Agriculture farms and shipped across the country or the world. Despite the upswing in urban gardening and the locavore movement, to date these are attempts at food self-sufficiency at the atomic level. Incredible Edible cofounder Pam Warhurst aims to accelerate such efforts, and started a project in the British town of Todmorden to grow edible crops on the town’s unused land.

While Warhurst’s proposal bears some slight resemblance to the guerrilla gardening movement, Incredible Edible’s provenance is anything but radical. As the Chair of Britain’s Forestry Commission, Warhusrt has connections and a platform to help her realize her vision of “(focusing) on local food to re-engage people with the planet we live on.” She details the project and her goal to empower communities by reconnect individuals to their food and local environment in the following TED Talk:

Paul M. Davis

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul M. Davis

Paul M. Davis tells stories online and off, exploring the spaces where data, art, and civics intersect. I currently work with a number of organizations including Pivotal and


Things I share: Knowledge, technology, reusable resources, goodwill.