UDC Reaps a Bumper Crop From Agriculture Measure

"They're urban issues, such as youth violence, environmental education . . . it could be water quality, drug use, cancer, things that are germane to the urban environment," she said.

Allen is an example of such urban farm activity. For years, he has been doing research on raising nutritious plants in D.C. back yards, such as pigweed, also known as amaranth.

Many people don't get the concept of the urban aggie, Allen acknowledges. He winces when recalling a lunch he attended years ago, during which a congressman "said he didn't see why agriculture . . . should get public funding in the District of Columbia.

"Everyone turned around and looked at me," Allen said. "I'll never forget it."

David Jefferson, UDC's pesticide expert, is another unlikely beneficiary of the bill. At other land-grant universities, pesticide specialists focus on bugs in the corn or peach crops. But on a recent day, Jefferson was after cockroaches in the community room kitchen at Potomac Gardens, a housing complex in Southeast Washington.

"Let's see if there's anybody home under this one," he muttered, hoisting an ancient microwave off the counter. A few bugs scattered.

He peeked under the stove top.

"Yeah, there's some egg cases," he declared.

Jefferson, who teaches city residents how to get rid of cockroaches and rats, will be able to apply for funds that previously were off-limits to UDC.

UDC is not the only land-grant university that has adapted the traditional farm-aid concept to help urban populations. Virginia's cooperative-extension service, for example, still provides advice on how to irrigate peanut crops. But it also teaches youths how to cope with teenage bullies.

"We've changed with our communities," said Mark McCann, director of Virginia's cooperative extension services. Fairfax, for example, once was the top dairy-producing county in Virginia.

"In those days, we talked about dairy husbandry and food sanitation," McCann said. "Today we talk about youth at risk, nutrition programs and robotics for children."