History of the farm
Aluma Farm was started on the Atlanta Beltline Farm site in Southwest Atlanta by farmers Andy Friedberg and Andrea Ness. The 3.8 acre site was once home to two industrial manufacturing facilities. The Atlanta BeltLine worked with the EPA to conduct a full soil remediation to remove any potential contamination left as a result of its former use.
When Andrea and Andy first broke ground, it was safe to grow food, but the soil had been damaged by the previous industrial use and subsequent clean-up that stripped the site of topsoil and left what remained extremely compacted. The soil lacked fertility, biological life, and the ability to grow healthy and productive crops.
Because of deficient soil health and due to us just getting started on the land we only harvested 3,000 pounds of food our first season. This allowed us to attend 1 weekly market and serve about 10 customers per week on the farm.
Over the course of 9 seasons on the land, Aluma Farm utilized the application of compost, cover cropping, and low-till farming methods based in organic practices to build the soil and turn the once lifeless site into an urban oasis.
When we put down our shovels and hoes in 2024, Aluma Farm was growing over 30,000 pounds of food per season which fed a 90 household CSA, hundreds of customers at our twice weekly on-farm markets, and some of our favorite Atlanta restaurants.
We are proud of partnerships with Wholesome Wave Georgia, the Stewart Center, Urban Oak Initiative, and our amazing customers that improved affordability and increased access to our produce within our community.
Today, Andy is operating the new iteration of Aluma Farm to help farmers, gardeners, organizations, and schools meet their goals and get local.
