Much more than vegetables grow at Sprout Urban Farms

by Zinta Aistars
Published in Southwest Michigan's Second Wave Media
April 25, 2013

JEREMY ANDREWS, CEO OF SPROUT URBAN FARMS WITH EMPLOYEES REBECCA SPICER, LEFT, AND DEVON GIBSON, RIGHT, INSIDE THEIR GREENHOUSE IN BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN. - ERIK HOLLADAY

A community gathering to talk about ways to improve life where they live led to organizing a farm in the city. Zinta Aistars has the story of Sprout Urban Farm.

It's a staff meeting. Let's face it: staff meetings usually inspire yawns, doodles on notepads, and texting under the conference table. But this staff meeting is led by Jeremy Andrews, CEO of Sprout Urban Farms on 245 N. Kendall Street in Battle Creek, Michigan, and while there are notepads and laptops open on the table, and notes are indeed being taken, there are no yawns. Instead there is laughter, friendly jibes, general teasing, and a lot of enthusiasm, sprouting all around the table. 

 

That's because Andrews is no ordinary CEO. He spells it out. CEO stands for, he grins, "Chief Excitement Officer."  And Sprout Urban Farms is no ordinary farm. Sprout, as Andrews and his crew call it, is the hub of a grassroots movement born of a community gathering to discuss ways to improve, well, life. 

 

"The best initiatives come from a community, not at a community," Andrews says. It was 2009, he says, and he was working as a community organizer in Battle Creek. "About 100 residents showed up at our forum. People could talk about anything, propose anything."

 

What the people wanted was a community garden. In fact, everyone everywhere seemed to want community gardens, and so Andrews started to think--why not start one great community garden rather than scattered many gardens? And then … he did both. 

 

Sprout Urban Farms took shape from that grassroots initiative, built on grants, donations, and community enthusiasm. Now vegetables are grown year-round, if not in the garden, then in a large greenhouse, or inside hoop houses. From Sprout about 30 more community gardens  sprouted throughout the Battle Creek area. But that wasn't all. 

 

"We talked about gardening at that forum," Andrews says, "and we also talked about composting, harvesting, education, and workshops. We talked about improving food access, building a food co-op, getting youth involved."

Sprout Urban Farms grew quickly, and soon included all of these things.
 

Bright Star Farm became the one community garden. Compost Happens became the community compost project with a focus on youth engagement and environmental stewardship. Fresh on Wheels is the mobile market partnership between Sprout Urban Farms and the Battle Creek Community Foundation. The GreenFist Project is a gardening youth internship made up of youth, ages 16 to 23, from many of the school districts surrounding Battle Creek. 

 

More initiatives keep popping up, almost like weeds. Each new project brings more nourishment to the community. 

 

"Community food grows relationships, I always say,"  Andrews says with a nod.

 

Devon Gibson, also at the staff meeting, is operations manager for Sprout.

 

 "I got involved after I was a witness to a homicide right outside my house," he says. "It's a low income area, and there are a lot of those here. I wanted to do something for my community. I met Jeremy Andrews, and I thought he was crazy." Gibson shrugs. "Two years later ..."

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Photography by Erik Holladay at erikholladay.com