Prof. Kelley Lemon awarded major grant for collaboration in East St. Louis

Description of award and project

Lemon’s project—Cultivating Green in the City: A Soil and Planting Framework for Urban Agriculture and Ecology in East St. Louis—is being pursued in collaboration with Prof. Andrew Margenot, Crop Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and Principal Investigator of the Soils Lab; Amy Funk, Director, Jacki Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition Innovation Center), and Scott Loeffler and Kevin Green, Director of Operation and Director of Administration, Lansdowne UP.

Here’s the project description:

Urban farming and agriculture is gaining popularity as a solution to address food insecurity and enhance community relationships in disadvantaged U.S. neighborhoods. In declining cities, abandoned areas are repurposed for urban agriculture, discouraging illegal dumping and beautifying the community. However, the soil quality in these areas is often poor or contaminated with toxins from past industrial activities, posing challenges for food production. Traditional methods involve raised beds, soil replacement, and soil washing, but are expensive and don’t address localized contamination. 

 The project proposes building a set of planting design guidelines around phytotechnology and phytoremediation techniques to stabilize contaminated soils with complex-rooted plants and possibly removing contaminants through plant uptake. By testing and identifying clean and contaminated areas, a new urban landscape typology can emerge, addressing health, safety, budget, ecology, and restoration. The Jackie Joyner Kersee Food Agriculture and Nutrition Program (JJKFAN) in the Lansdowne neighborhood in East St. Louis is identified for such a project, aiming to build out its agricultural footprint with a collection of passive solar greenhouses, and developing a landscape design that engages youth in the community