Abney extols $500,000 grant for urban farming and marketplace

Rep. Aerion Andrew Abney February 5, 2025 | 1:13 PM

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 5 – State Rep. Aerion A. Abney, D-Allegheny, announced that a state grant of half a million dollars was awarded to a local career training institute for establishing resources available to prospective urban farmers.

Bidwell Training Center, located on Pittsburgh’s North Side, would utilize the funds to create an urban agriculture farm and market.

“Cities across the country continue to break the mold of the stereotypical farm with hundreds of acres to contribute to PA’s agricultural output and economic strength their own unique way,” Abney said. “These dollars will help enable a great educational institute like Bidwell to provide students with a blueprint to what a vibrant and sustaining future in urban farming looks like.”

Bidwell’s grant is part of a total of $10 million in state funding, which is made possible by Pennsylvania’s Agricultural Innovation Grant program.

A first-of-its-kind in the nation, the program helps farmers and other agriculture businesses implement new agricultural technologies, conservation and renewable energy innovations – expanding their potential to generate profits, enrich soil and water resources, and produce energy on the farm.

All grant recipients can be found here.

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