The Lehigh County Conservation District recently announced it was awarded an Urban Agriculture Conservation grant through a partnership with the National Association of Conservation Districts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Conservation Service to boost technical capacity nationwide.

“At Lehigh County Conservation District we educate about preserving soil and water resources because we know that these are the building blocks of healthy people, a healthy community, and a healthy environment” remarked Bill McFadden, district manager. “Thanks to the Urban Agriculture grant from NACD, the District will be able to provide expanded assistance to Allentown and Lehigh County schools through the release of our Urban Agriculture Curriculum.”

Lehigh County Conservation District Education Coordinator Jolie Chylack offered her comment.

“While learning how to grow our own food no matter where we live, exploring traditional and innovative careers in the agriculture industry and discovering how growing sustainably can enhance our environment and our life, this curriculum is meant to extend the many benefits of urban agriculture to teachers and their students,” Chylack explained.

LCCD was one of 20 conservation districts across 14 states to receive funding.

NACD and NRCS established the Urban Agriculture Conservation grant initiative in 2016 to help conservation districts and their partners provide much-needed technical assistance for agricultural conservation in developed or predominantly developing areas.

Since July of 2016, NACD and NRCS have awarded three rounds of grants, totaling $4 million to 81 conservation district projects across 34 states.

“As Americans move to urban areas, conservation districts are adapting, with a majority of today’s conservation districts now providing urban technical assistance,” NACD President Brent Van Dyke said.

Read the district’s project description, as well as the other awardees’ project descriptions, on NACD’s 2019 Urban Agriculture Conservation Grant Recipients webpage.