Earlier this fall, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) put forth proposed federal legislation designed to bolster urban agriculture on a national level. The bill—which may or may not be considered in the upcoming Farm Bill—aims to make $860 million in new investments for urban agriculture over 10 years.

What could urban farmers do with that money? Plenty. But it won’t help if we don’t fundamentally rethink how our food comes to us. In light of the fact that most people in the world now live in cities, we might begin by considering urban agriculture not as an isolated enterprise, but as part of a broader food system integrated with peri-urban and rural farms.

I’ve been farming for the last 40 years, much of that time on urban and rural farms in California, and for the past eight years at Sole Food Street Farms in Vancouver, British Columbia. My work has provided me with ample quiet time in the fields to think deeply about these things. Here is my urban food manifesto.

Invest in Training Urban Farmers

Every municipality should establish publicly supported agricultural training centers in central and accessible locations to help today’s garden-scale projects grow and new, larger commercial farms take root in cities. I’m not talking about think tanks or demonstration gardens. I’m talking about working urban farms that model not only the social, cultural, and ecological benefits of farming in the city, but the economic benefits as well.

We can talk about all of the wonderful reasons to farm in urban areas—proximity to populations, markets, and labor, improved food quality for urban dwellers, the greening of neighborhoods, direct visual, and participatory connection to farms and farmers—but until we can demonstrate that it’s possible to make a decent living doing it, it’s going to be a tough sell. To help make this a reality, every city should maintain teams of trained farm advisers to offer their expertise to new urban growers.