Creating Space for Pollinator and Beneficial Insect Habitat on Small Urban Farms

As more people take an active role in urban food production and local food sovereignty, urban farming spaces are increasing in many cities.

Alongside food production, small urban farms and community gardens are valuable locations for adding native habitat pockets, strips, hedgerows and pollinator gardens.

These habitats can be designed to offer a wide array of benefits, from helping wildlife, crop pollination and pest control to benefitting water quality, stormwater management and community.

In this farminar, we discuss the role of pollinators in urban landscapes and see examples of projects to add native habitat in these spaces. Learn techniques you can use on your small urban farm or community garden to boost native biodiversity.

• Stefanie Steele works for Xerces Society as the pollinator conservation specialist for urban and small farms. She works primarily with underserved communities in the Detroit, Michigan, area, providing technical assistance, planning and education on how to incorporate pollinator and other beneficial invertebrate habitat into urban agricultural areas and community gardens.
• Akello Karamoko is the farmer manager at Keep Growing Detroit, an urban farm and non-profit in Detroit, Michigan, where he also heads the organization’s native plant nursery. Keep Growing Detroit focuses on cultivating a food sovereign city where the majority of fruits and vegetables consumed are grown by residents within the city’s limits.