Inside Atlanta’s First Food Forest

Meet the women who helped transform an urban food desert into a sustainable resource

Atlanta, Georgia, known for being one of the major cities at the center of the civil rights movement during the 1960s, has in recent years taken on another social justice fight: combatting food deserts.

The urban food forest at Browns Mill Road in southeast Atlanta is an initiative taken on by the city of Atlanta to improve food access and to eliminate food deserts in the impoverished communities in the city. The 7.1 acres of land, which is located in an area identified as a food desert, provides free food, including fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and nuts to feed families who otherwise do not have access to these resources.

The urban food forest, which is the largest of its kind in the U.S., has the support of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Forest Service’s Community Forest Program (who has given them a grant to fund the project), a long list of community partners, and area schools, to ensure the forest operates efficiently and adequately services the families in the Browns Mill, Lakewood, and surrounding communities in southeast Atlanta. The site was formerly a working farm as recently as the year 2000.