Description: On Earth Day April 22, 2012, a couple hundred urban farmers marched onto ten plus acres of fallow farmland and the site of a former agricultural research center known as the Gill Tract. The farmers hoped to stop development of a shopping mall and condo complex on the site of the former research station, and de-rail plans that threatened to remove the class one agricultural land from farming. The activists brought with them 16,000 seedlings, roto tillers, shovels and tents. Within a few hours, they’d planted an acre of vegetables, put up a big banner that read: Occupy the Farm, and set up a tent village to defend the crops.