Urban Farms in Need of Farmers

There has been a surge of urban gardens and farms cropping up in schools, residences and empty lots across the country. While there is great enthusiasm in creating these small-scale farms, the understanding and the willingness to maintain them has not been met with the same interest, notes Berg.

"For schools especially, I think the process of creating a garden is pretty exciting to people, so they build a coalition who get really excited and everyone shows up for the ribbon cutting at the garden, and then the hard work sets in," says Dan Allen, the owner of Farmscape, a company that helps maintain small-scale farms. "It's not just building the garden and doing that first planting, but also doing the diligent maintenance of the crops."

That's where Farmscape, a company based in the outsourced landscaping capital of the country – Los Angeles – comes in. "The company's website claims its services are comparable to those of 'mow-and-blow' landscapers, but with the added value of an expertise in organic farming techniques. His team – 'half a dozen college-educated 20-somethings' – are filling the void of farmers in a city with a disproportionate supply of urban farms and gardens."