City Slicker Farms

Forever Farmland for West Oakland 

Our Community Market Farms are food production gardens that are open to the public, growing food for community distribution at our farmstand. Of the three market farms we currently operate, this will be the largest, and the only one owned by City Slicker Farms. It will ensure the legacy of urban agriculture in West Oakland in perpetuity. The urban farm, orchards, greenhouse, and chicken coop will increase the agricultural output of our Community Market Farm program by 100%, yielding up to 10,000 pounds of produce within the first few years of operation. The produce will be distributed at our farm stand, where no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

A Hub for Urban Agriculture Education

The West Oakland Park and Urban Farm will provide community members with a space that embodies their knowledge about urban farming methods, environmental sustainability, local history, and nutrition. City Slicker Farms has made our farms available to local and far-flung school groups, offered volunteer workdays and worked side-by-side with individuals who have a passion for urban agriculture. In 13 years, our 3,300 volunteers have learned what it means to turn a blighted piece of land into a community hub. The Park and Farm will house an outdoor classroom, extensive demonstration areas, and educational signs to continue these efforts.

A Community Bonding Place

The Park and Farm will include open public event space, picnic tables and benches, and inviting, shaded spaces for leisure and conversation. By designing our Park and Farm with the community and convening a Farm Park Council of West Oakland residents to help lead our programming efforts, we are ensuring that the West Oakland Urban Park and Farm responds to the needs of our community. The Council is made up of community members who are driving the community involvement process, reaching out to potential partners, and serving as ambassadors for the Park and Farm. 

A Space for Community Growing and Empowerment

Neighbors will be able to gather, share recipes and gardening tips, and create a healthy, accessible community space at the new Park and Farm. By including community garden plots, City Slicker Farms will for the first time in our history be able to host garden space for residents without yards of their own. City Slicker Farms has a deep history of putting the power to create food in West Oaklanders’ hands. Since 2001, we have supported nearly 2,000 West Oakland and Alameda County residents to grow 118,000 pounds of fresh food, saving these individuals and families more than $200,000 in groceries. The community garden at the Park and Farm will extend these resources to even more families.

A Place for Play in Nature in the Heart of Our City

The West Oakland Urban Park and Farm will create a safe place for children to play and exercise, offering relief from the pressure and stress of modern urban life. The Park and Farm will create a healthy, secure setting for our community’s children to explore independently in a one-of-a-kind outdoor space. It will stimulate the senses with color, sound, and smell—a refreshing contrast to a surrounding industrial-residential landscape of asphalt, concrete, bricks, and steel. The Park and Farm will offer a creative, protected play area with additional seating for parental supervision.

Critical Conservation Practices in Our Urban Environment

The Park and Farm will feature the environmental sustainability demonstration areas that we have honed and used throughout our farms in West Oakland, such as drip irrigation, integrated pest management techniques, recycled and reused construction materials, native plants, organic cultivation methods, a lush habitat for pollinators, and recycling and composting receptacles with educational signage. In addition, by growing and distributing our food in West Oakland, we eliminate the significant energy use and planet-warming emissions associated with shipping produce from far-away farms.

Back to the campaign