PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (January 17, 2023) — Dr. Clarence Bunch, Agriculture Natural Resources Program Leader of the Cooperative Extension Program (CEP) at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), has received nearly $1 million for Urban Agriculture. Recently, he was awarded $500,000 by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) for the PVAMU CEP Agriculture and Natural Resources (AgNR) Urban Agriculture Program.
Clarence Bunch, Ph.D., program leader, Cooperative Extension Program
The Urban Community Education on Urban Agriculture Farming is a grant received from the USDA-NRCS to implement an urban agriculture program to provide community education on urban agriculture and increase the outreach and knowledge of urban farmers and small farm agriculture.
Dr. Bunch and Urban Extension Specialist, Jeremy Peaches, are excited about the opportunity this funding provides the PVAMU Agriculture and Natural Resources unit of the Cooperative Extension Program as well as the greater community of urban farmers throughout the state of Texas.
“Today, agriculture has grown to include populated areas called Urban Agriculture,” said Peaches. “Prairie View A&M University Urban Agriculture Program is uniquely positioned to impact families & farmers in high population density areas in Texas.” 
For the past ten years, the concept of agriculture has expanded beyond the traditional view of agriculture to a more inclusive agriculture view as we search for alternative ways to feed more people. Part of this education includes working with urban farmers and providing technical education on urban farming.
“We are honored to be part of this historic initiative by the Department of Agriculture, ” said PVAMU Vice President of Research & Innovation Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., P.E., MBA.“The funding for these projects boosts our ability to develop projects that support historically underserved farmers across the State of Texas. The successes of these initiatives will benefit our programs in the scientific community as well as the greater global agricultural industry.”
The USDA defines Urban Agriculture as city and suburban spaces such as backyard, roof-top and balcony gardening, community gardening in vacant lots and parks, roadside urban fringe agriculture, and livestock grazing in open space.
Urban Agriculture can play a significant part in the overall food system. Creating a solution to mitigate food deserts can represent a missing community resource. Urban Agriculture can provide this missing resource while addressing public health, education, employment, and environmental issues.
“I believe the urban agriculture program is a twenty-first century solution to the old food insecurity problem,” said Bunch. “This project allows us to provide technical and financial assistance to urban farmers, small farm agriculture organizations, and communities. We collectively working to develop solutions to mitigate the dire issues of climate change, food security, and land loss. In order to achieve the land grant mission, we need all hands-on deck,” said Bunch.
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By Jenna Craig