Alemany Farm Subject of Odd Huffington Post Infomercial

​We like the Alemany Farm as much as anybody else. It's an awesome place for people to volunteer on weekends and pick up free, organic vegetables in the process.

But when we noticed this video and story about the Alemany Farm on the Huffington Post this morning, we found it a little bizarre. The package, entitled, "Alemany Farm: Reducing San Francisco's Crime By Growing Organic Food," claims multiple times that the Alemany Farm is helping to reduce crime in a neighborhood the story never even names (Bernal, by the way). Not a shred of evidence, other than the statements from the farm's executive director, is provided.


By the way, we called the San Francisco Police Department to see if, indeed, Alemany Farm is reducing area crime. They're getting back to us about that.

We're not sure why the Huffington Post dedicated resources to making a commercial about a farm in San Francisco that's been around since 1991. But in these times, when media resources are growing scarce, we wish that an outlet with the money and time to make a video like this one would aim to do actual journalism.

It's also worth noting that 19th-century proponents of public parks were largely driven by the claim that greenery in an urban setting would improve public morality. It just doesn't always work out that way.

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