Urban agriculture
Urban agriculture refers to the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in urban environments, including cities and suburbs, diverging from traditional rural farming methods. This movement encompasses a variety of activities such as crop farming, animal husbandry, aquaculture, and horticulture, often initiated to generate income, provide fresh food, or engage in recreational and community-building activities. Notably, urban agriculture addresses food deserts—areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food—by increasing the availability of fresh produce, meats, and other food items in underserved neighborhoods.
Historically, urban agriculture has roots in various cultures, from ancient Egyptians using compost to the communal gardens in 19th-century Europe. Its modern resurgence has been linked to health benefits, local economic advantages, and environmental stewardship, as urban farms frequently employ organic methods that reduce carbon footprints. The integration of green roofs in urban planning further enhances the potential for agriculture by maximizing limited space and improving ecological outcomes.
Moreover, urban agriculture fosters community engagement and awareness of local land use issues, often leading to supportive legislation that promotes urban farming initiatives. With ongoing federal support and local adaptations, urban agriculture continues to grow, reflecting the increasing number of people living in urban areas and the universal need for accessible food production.
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Urban agriculture
Urban agriculture encompasses crop farming, animal husbandry, aquaculture, forestry, and horticulture activities that take place in suburban and city environments that are far from the traditional rural environs of farms. People usually start urban farms to earn extra income, produce extra food, for recreation, or to promote farming as a healthful community activity. Urban agriculture increases the amount of locally produced fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat to people living in cities and decreases food deserts in (usually poor) neighborhoods that lack supermarkets with affordable food. Urban agriculture can help restore and remediate environments by using conservation-minded methods to raise a variety of crops.
Overview
The ancient Egyptians used compost, the Incas in Machu Picchu conserved and reused water as part of their stepped urban architecture system, and countless gardeners throughout history have planted kitchen gardens to help feed their families. In the nineteenth century, Germans and other Europeans planted communal gardens for food, and by 1919 they produced over five hundred million pounds of produce. During World War II, the US War Food Administration established a National Victory Garden Program that set up urban agriculture plots all over the United States, in backyards and even on apartment building rooftops. More than 5.5 million Americans planted victory gardens and harvested over $1.2 billion worth of produce by the end of the war.
In the twenty-first century, more than eight hundred million people around the world are involved in the urban agriculture movement. The Urban Agriculture Committee North American Initiative of the Community Food Security Coalition and other groups promote the health benefits and local economic advantages of urban agriculture. Locally grown foods are fresher because they reach tables faster and most gardeners do not use industrial pesticides. Gardeners reap the benefits of healthy physical work combined with a healthy diet, which results in greater overall health and decreased healthcare spending.
Environmental stewardship is another benefit of the urban agriculture movement. Industrial agriculture uses petrochemicals to fertilize and preserve food, and fossil fuels are used to transport food worldwide. Urban farming often uses organic methods that limit the farms’ carbon footprints, and urban farmers often ally themselves with environmentalists to preserve or reclaim their environment.
Urban agriculture is often closely connected to the development of green buildings, especially green roofs. Green roofs are building roofs that incorporate plants in their design in order to achieve benefits such as reduced heat absorption in the summer, increased heat retention in the winter, minimized rainwater runoff, greater roof longevity, and increased biodiversity. When implemented in urban environments, in particular, such designs can also make efficient use of limited space as sites for agriculture. Although some green roofs focus on hardy species such as grasses and other lowlying plants, many designs can also include useful species such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Additionally, the rainwater captured by many green roof systems can easily be used to irrigate crops and traditional gardens whether they are part of the actual roof design or not. Although green roofs can be expensive to install, and require careful design consideration, many estimates show that they are cost effective in terms of energy use and other benefits even before any related agricultural production is taken into account.
The urban agriculture movement involves people in local politics by making them aware of land use issues and giving them a stake in city ordinances tied to farming, such as whether or not chicken coops and beekeeping are permissible and how to go about obtaining a permit to start a farmers market. Urban farming’s expansion has stimulated some legislation in these areas, including the California Homemade Food Act, which was signed by the state's governor in 2013 and allows people to legally sell homemade goods like jams and breads. Later that year the state of California also passed the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act. This law allows cities to establish agricultural zones in vacant or blighted lots for which landowners would then receive property tax breaks. Almost one year later, San Francisco became the first American city to offer this tax incentive for urban farming. Several other large cities throughout the country, such as Detroit, Portland, and Chicago, have adopted zoning ordinances that designate areas for local food production that include community gardens and farmer's markets. The city of Boston approved Article 89 in 2014, legalizing commercial farms inside of its limits.
Support for urban agriculture has also come from the federal government. As part of the 2018 Farm Bill, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP) grants, which provided several millions of dollars in support of urban agriculture development over the subsequent years. In 2022 alone, the USDA invested over $14 million in grants to support innovations in urban farming. A press release by the USDA announcing that funding stated that it would help "urban farmers create new, more affordable, and better local market options and help urban communities produce fresh and healthy food locally."
Urban farming also encourages community interaction by bringing people together to share ideas, seeds, labor, and harvests. These local food systems create strong interdependence within communities. Urban agriculture is expanding in scope and influence because more people live in cities than in rural areas, food is a basic human need, and food production affects everyone.
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