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urban agriculture 
Sat Oct 08, 2011 at 23:29:32 PM PDT
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I expected that Jennifer Cockrall-King, author of an upcoming book on urban agriculture, Food and the City, would write a great book, but she exceeded my expectations. I also expected I might learn a thing or two about urban ag that I did not already know, and here Jennifer exceeded my expectations as well. The irony is that - as we discussed before the book came out - Jennifer wanted to appeal to the U.S. market in addition to the comparatively tiny Canadian market with her book, so she researched and wrote about U.S. cities in addition to Canadian, European, and Cuban ones, but it's the chapters on non-U.S. cities that are by far the most interesting.
Food and the City will be out in early 2012.
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Fri Oct 07, 2011 at 11:12:30 AM PDT
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As I noted the other day, San Diego is getting a much needed urban ag makeover. The current laws are silent on many issues and too restrictive on others. Fortunately, the city council has been incredibly responsive. They drafted up proposed rules which were heard by the Land Use and Housing committee this week.
As I've already noted, San Diego county cracked down on the proposal to allow backyard goats. I think even the goats will agree that this is very baaaaa-d.
However, the rest of the news is quite good. The proposed rules, plus some of the public comments made are below.
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Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 14:55:04 PM PST
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At long last, after a multi-year effort by community gardening advocates, the city of San Diego is easing its regulations on community gardens. This issue first came to my attention several years ago, when the International Rescue Committee was in the process of founding its New Roots Community Farm. For the small community garden (under 3 acres) to get going, it cost $40,000 to get through the rigorous and often ridiculous permitting process. But once the garden got going, it was a huge success - so much so that Michelle Obama came for a high publicized visit. New Roots is located in an area with little fresh food and the gardeners are immigrants from all over the world. Many farmed in their home countries before coming to the U.S. and lack the money to buy the same quality produce they can grow themselves at New Roots. The success at New Roots just goes to show what a no-brainer it is to make it easier to establish more community gardens. Thank goodness the city has finally agreed! Now let's see if we can get them on board with friendlier rules for urban chickens :) More info can be found here and here.
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Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 18:19:53 PM PDT
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Our Urban Eden Community Garden, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada I'm a little biased, but the urban gardening scene in my northern Canadian home town of Edmonton always impresses me. Maybe it's the fact that you really can't plant much other than seeds before the third week of May -- because the chance of a killing frost are almost certain, no matter how "springlike" it has been for weeks. Maybe because it's so far north (53 degrees North / 113 degrees West on the globe), and depending which part of the city you are in, there are really only 115 to 125 frost-free growing days. But when the explosion of spring growth happens each year, it's a fantastic thing to behold. And with 17 hours-plus of sunlight per day in June and into early July, gardens start producing just a few weeks after seeds and plant plugs go in the ground.
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Wed May 19, 2010 at 12:22:25 PM PDT
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(What a concept, farmers helping other farmers: when cooperation seems to work in the place of competition) I’ve been to Cuba twice now, once in 2007 and just very recently (where I met and roomed with the amazing Jill Richardson!). Both times, I’ve been in Cuba to research their agricultural models, especially their urban agricultural models, as I’m writing a book on the global movement of urban agriculture. As you know, Jill and I participated in a conference and research tour from May 5 to 15, 2010, and Jill is doing a mind-blowing job of chronicling our day-to-day adventures on the farms and our other wanderings. In other words, I’ll try to contribute in a way that complements Jill’s posts. Here are my thoughts on the agricultural structure that has been devised in Cuba to produce as much as 90% of the fresh food that that 11.2 million Cuban citizens consume. This stands in stark contrast to the North American food landscape where we rely on a remarkably fragile, ridiculously complex global food swap just to meet our basic food needs. Where I live in Edmonton, Alberta, we produce less 10% of the food locally that we consume, despite being an “agricultural power” on the Canadian prairies. (Hint, the American food system isn’t the only food system that is broken!) OK, back to Cuba…
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Sun Apr 04, 2010 at 19:47:48 PM PDT
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Check this beauty out:
H.R. 4971: Greening Food Deserts Act
To increase the emphasis on urban agricultural issues in the Department of Agriculture through the establishment of a new office to ensure that Department authorities are used to effectively encourage local agricultural production and increase the availability of fresh food in urban areas, particularly underserved communities experiencing hunger, poor nutrition, obesity, and food insecurity, and for other purposes.
This bill was introduced by Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and it already has 23 co-sponsors in the House. EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND ASK HIM OR HER TO CO-SPONSOR THIS BILL!!!!
Details of the bill are below...
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Mon Oct 05, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT
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Yesterday, I wrote about Growing Power's urban farm in Milwaukee, focusing on the demographics of the neighborhood and the food sold in their store. This diary shows how they produce a lot of food on a very little space (2 acres) in a climate that is cold for much of the year.
I don't think it's possible that anyone could see what Growing Power does without feeling inspired. After coming home from my visit to Growing Power, I immediately got a worm bin. You'll see why below...
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Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 13:46:51 PM PDT
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Last week, I visited Growing Power, the urban farm started by Will Allen. If Will Allen's name sounds familiar, that may be from his appearances on Good Morning America or in the New York Times, or from his Macarthur Genius Award, or from a few days before I visited Growing Power, when President Clinton called him "my hero." Growing Power's amazing, and I am absolutely not the first person to discover it. However, even though I was already well acquainted with the work of Will Allen and the success of Growing Power, I came away from my tour of the small Milwaukee urban farm absolutely inspired. Indeed, I think it would be impossible NOT to be transformed by it. I've always been amazed by the fervor of urban ag advocates, and now I feel like I understand. If Will Allen can do what he's done at Growing Power, then there is untold amounts of untapped potential in cities across this entire country.
This diary will give a description of the neighborhood where Growing Power is located and the food that is available in the Growing Power store.
A view of Growing Power's store
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Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 19:17:02 PM PDT
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Wow! Paula Crossfield, editor of Civil Eats, is in the New York Times. I love this quote by her:
"The bottom line," she said, "is that I harbor a secret desire to be a farmer, and my way of doing that is to use what I have, which is a roof."
The one downside to rooftop gardens that I hadn't really thought of before reading the article is how much STUFF you have to carry shlep up to your roof. In Paula's case it was 1500 lbs of soil. And that was before she got to even planting anything. She started the seeds indoors and then carried those up to the roof too:
Two weeks ago Ms. Crossfield transplanted seedlings from her apartment onto the roof: golden zucchini, oakleaf lettuce, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, watermelon, rainbow chard, cucumbers, nasturtiums, calendula, sunflowers, amaranth greens, tomatoes and herbs.
Ms. Crossfield? Nice. You go, Paula!
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Sun Jun 14, 2009 at 15:28:05 PM PDT
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No this story is not about the media blitz of Mayor Bloomberg's vision for how he sees New York's roof once he buys another election. This story is about something that may actually happen to many of those idle rooftops in New York City.
On a rooftop at 148-02 Archer Avenue in Jamaica, Queens there are people who are taking green to a new level. A start up company named Gotham Greens is creating NYC's first commercial scale, rooftop hydroponic farm.
It will use a water-based, soil-free method to grow roughly 30 tons of vegetables and fruit each year for sale to local markets and restaurants.
The groundbreaking venture aims to use an untapped urban resource - rooftop space - to meet an emerging demand for locally grown produce.
"We are trying to demonstrate that sustainable, urban agriculture can be economically viable in the city," said the company's greenhouse director, Jennifer Nelkin, 30.
There will be no fertilizers or pesticides, a massive cistern that captures rainwater for irrigation and the produce will be delivered in a biodiesel van. It will be a rooftop greenhouse that will be mainly powered by 2,000 square feet of solar panels arrayed on the rooftop next door and the creators are hoping to expand to multiple locations throughout the city.
Can these two creators Jennifer Nelkin and Viraj Puri transform urban eating? Well New York may seem like a tough place but Ms. Nelkin has already managed two greenhouses in Antarctica and they are both involved in The Science Barge that has already educated so many New Yorkers.
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Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 17:52:32 PM PDT
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The industrial East Bay city of Richmond, California reminds me a lot of where I'm from - Newark, New Jersey. Both cities grew up in the shadows of nearby megalopolises, while nonetheless becoming major seaports and heavy industry cities able to build themselves out along the railroads. Both prospered greatly in those times, while serving as bases of America's growing world power; and populations boomed during the early and mid-20th century, with both cities playing host to many major department stores, theaters, etc...
Shortly after reaching their respective peaks, both soon had their hearts ripped out by ill-advised urban "planning" and highway projects - I-78 and I-280 cut destructive paths which Godzilla would envy through Newark and completely destroyed historical Jewish and African-American neighborhoods, while the Garden State Parkway literally displaced thousands and thousands of graves and shredded the urban fabric of the Vailsburg neighborhood, completely cutting it off from the rest of the city just to allow suburban automobile commuters quicker access between Clifton and Kenilworth. Out on the other coast, the Richmond Parkway a few decades later certainly didn't do much for the people of that city. Another thing these cities have in common beyond just these brief histories - both will also soon be places America desperately needs if we're going to survive as a society much longer.
The good news from Richmond is that they're already leading the way into our future, with their Urban Agriculture and Food Systems Class -
The class's food system curriculum is wrapped around an action project-student-powered market gardens and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) service. Students study the food system from a variety of perspectives-public health, nutrition, local policy, food distribution and marketing, agriculture, and ecology. In addition, students learn organic gardening techniques while tending a raised-bed garden at Richmond High (about 1,000 square feet of raised-bed space) and a 2,000 square foot market garden at Adams Middle School.
Students in the city are gardening, grafting fruit trees, gleaning local produce, learning business skills through their CSA program and feeding their neighbors while learning about healthy food, the environment and our food system. The class also took their wares to the City Council last month and gave a presentation as a final project, in order to convince local officials to support urban agriculture and food production projects throughout the city. Broccoli, not Big Boxes. What a concept, eh? Let's hope more cities follow suit soon.
Student-produced videos from the project can be accessed by scrolling to the bottom of this link.
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