“Urban Agriculture is ideal, but in reality are inner-city people going to implement it?”
That’s a loaded question if there ever was one.
Urban agriculture are farming endeavors that are undertaken inside the city. They are generally not meant for commercial sale or profit, due to the limited size. Where this method does excel is its ability to serve the surround community. It can provide much needed sustenance and an avenue to foster positive community growth. Unfortunately, people that do rely on this method of farming for food, find that they are being threatened by the monstrous expansion of cities.
The benefits of urban agriculture are many; a greater reason to foster this type of production, not destroy it. It helps create a community that does not have to source to much of their supplies, allowing for it to be more self reliant. This saves money on transporting and purchasing from other places. It also gives the community a greater understanding of the natural systems around it; what the soil is like, and other factors of their environment. The people themselves can become more aware of how to plan and implement strategies of urban agriculture.
One of the articles for this class tries to break down and really get to the main reasons for the discrepancies between empirical findings and literature that relates back to the many benefits, both ecological and environmental, of urban agriculture.
The series of question asked of our class included…
“why do you think there is a disconnect between what the experts say and the data that is being collected in relation to urban agriculture practices?”
“Should the urban poor be the only ones to worry about Urban Agriculture, or should everyone, even though the middle class/upper class residents have the money to buy their produce?”
As you can imagine, there was a debate. Every one should be concerned with Urban Agriculture, as we all are connected to the consequences, be they positive or negative, of Urban Agriculture. If we all partake in Urban Agriculture we can reduce the CO2 emissions that are caused by the transportation of produce from far away places. We can help increase the amount of Green Space that our Cities have, reduce groundwater pollution, improve soil quality, and that is just the beginning. We all live in this world and are responsible for taking care of it. Whether we have the money or not, we should all make a contribution.
Here is a link to a friend of mine’s Urban Agriculture products.
Here in Winnipeg, we have the opportunities to make use of Urban Agriculture methods and products!
http://citigrow.ca/urbanagriculture.html
Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/New_crops-Chicago_urban_farm.jpg/250px-New_crops-Chicago_urban_farm.jpg
Ecology and Design: how it applies to you 