What if urban farming isn’t just about feeding the hungry? Many other crops are grown from the soil of an urban farm.
Can urban farming really work? We look at a couple of articles that showcase some different viewpoints on the feasibility of just that.
“We are in an era when gardens are front and center for hopes and dreams of a better world or just a better neighborhood…”
What if urban farming isn’t just about feeding the hungry? There are many other crops – tangible and intangible – that are cultivated, raised, protected, harvested and shared from the soil of an urban garden or farm. The immediately obvious ones are the foods produced, but there are others such as education in many different directions, from how food is grown to ideals of peace and justice grown from your own backyard soil. Connections are planted, grown and strengthened as well. People get to know each other and can learn to accept other viewpoints and ideologies without the need to be right or win a discussion. Skills and growing techniques are passed on and strengthened.
One of the biggest crops that urban farming and indeed all human scaled agriculture is planting today is hope and reconnection. Hope that there is a way to provide food for ourselves and those that need a little extra without all of the destruction and isolation that is the norm for today’s industrial corporate agricultural model. Hope that we can heal the land that has fed us for multiple generations but has been so severely disrupted and damaged by chemical agriculture in the name of more production. The reconnection comes when ordinary everyday folks see how food is grown and can be grown in a simple, approachable and honorable manner. One that restores and improves the soil and landscape with each successive crop instead of weakening it.
By many indications, urban farming and human scale agriculture is on the rise and has been proven a success in many major cities across the United States. Burlington, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and dozens of other American cities are showing that sustainable urban agriculture is not only possible, but effective in growing many more crops than just food. There is a saying, “If you want to change the world, plant a garden.” How does that work, exactly? Some of the produce is understanding, community, social transformation, and catalytic action along with the tomatoes and kale. Food connects people to economics, justice, pleasure, work, health and the future. The lessons learned and shared that are grown and harvested in the garden have far reaching effects, feeding minds as well as bodies.
Revolutionary Plots | Urban agriculture is producing a lot more than food
Today we are going to look at a couple of opposing viewpoints on urban farming- that being the practice of growing food in an urban environment, more of a food producer than a hobby gardener with a windowsill box of daisies. Urban farming has become hip, cool and somewhat radical in mainstream America over the past few years, with Patti Moreno showcasing the Garden Girl TV that helped lead the way for growing food in the city to become acceptable. Long before that, Will Allen started Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI growing food in an urban landscape and teaching others how to do the same.
Our first article comes via AG Professional, an industrial farming magazine. The author – Maurice Hladik – is from a farming background with a degree in ag economics and was an ag diplomat to several countries. He says that he is a gardener and really enjoys it, but that urban farming in no way can make any measurable positive impact on our food supply, or feed any significant number of people in cities. He uses national land use figures and statistics to prove that the urban landscape is entirely unsuited to growing food. Um, really? What gave you that idea? He cites the fact that his house is built on a rocky outcropping and had to have many truckloads of soil brought in to create the lawn and gardening spaces.
The desire and skillsets of urban dwellers is brought into question next, with the comment of “hype and encouragement” for city folks to get out and grow a garden, with little visible results “given the lack of enthusiastic and capable gardeners” according to him. He challenges the sustainability of urban farming with the lack of suitable soil for growing that has to be trucked in. That soil was once farmland that has been removed from productivity, he states. Apparently he has never heard of the French intensive growing method that fed 90% of the city of Paris with 6 – 7% of the land inside the city limits. For over 350 years.
Water availability is addressed next, saying that rooftop gardens are water guzzlers in a water distribution system that has little excess capacity for irrigation. No mention of drip systems, gray water useage, rainwater collections, mulching or any of the other myriad approaches to reducing the amount of water needed. Urban farming on rooftops is a “thin layer of soil on a cement surface” that needs much more water than a conventional garden. Again, really? He cites a city of Toronto bylaw that states any buildings with flat roofs over 2,000 square feet are required to have some sort of garden. He goes on to say that because of the water issue, food production is out of the question and drought tolerant sedums are used almost exclusively there.
The two most disturbing and concerning points that he makes are at the end of the article. The first is that gardeners should enjoy their hobby and not worry their pretty little heads about feeding the world. Leave that burden to those who can. How @$#!* condescending! The second is that “someone” has a responsibility to feed the world. That “someone”, obviously, is industrial agrobusiness and not anyone else. Why does there have to be one entity that acts as the world’s supermarket? Is there really that need, or is this mantra another construct that has been promoted and pushed for so long that many now believe it? What about improving the capacity of each community and nation to feed itself and get away from the extractive export model? Look at Cuba and Russia as examples of how small, human scale agriculture can, in a real world situation, feed itself.
The article is worth reading, especially the reader comments!
Urban farming is an urban myth
Here is a great rebuttal written by Devon G. Peña, a professor of agroecology, ethnoecology, and the anthropology of food in Seattle.
Urban Farming Examined Part II
What if urban farming isn’t just about feeding the hungry? Many other crops are grown from the soil of an urban farm.
Urban Farming Examined Part I
Can urban farming really work? We look at a couple of articles that showcase some different viewpoints on the feasibility of just that.