San Francisco is arguably the greenest city in America. But ironically, one set of environmentalists have an extremely tough time taking root in San Francisco — urban farmers.

San Francisco's antiquated city zoning laws make it difficult for urban farmers to obtain the right permits to grow and sell their produce. Part of the problem is that these laws were created before the concept of urban farming even existed. There's technically no definition on the books of what, exactly, constitutes an urban agricultural operation. If there's not even a definition of what something is, regulation is obviously pretty difficult.

Mayor Gavin Newsom is finally taking steps to make it a little easier for urban farms to sprout forth. As part of his “Healthy and Sustainable Food for San Francisco" Executive Directive, which was issued back in 2009, Mayor Newsom recently proposed a code amendment that would define urban agriculture and allow urban farmers to operate in commercial, residential, industrial, and mix-use districts.

Mayor Newsom proposed this initiative, but now its up to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pass and approve this amendment. Sign our petition asking the Land Use and Economic Development Committee to approve a measure that would make things easier for urban farmers to get started.