How 16 Initiatives Are Changing Urban Agriculture Through Tech And Innovation
Extensive periurban agriculture farms nowadays provide goods and services both for the local and global markets (Opitz et al., 2016). Urban agriculture is especially important in New York City as many low-income residents suffer from high rates of obesity and diabetes and limited sources of fresh produce. The City and local nonprofit groups have been providing land, training and financial encouragement, but the impetus in urban farming has really come from the farmers, who often volunteer when their regular workday is done. One NYC urban agriculture initiative targeted at low-income residents is the Farms at NYCHA project. The program is a city-partnership placed in 12 neighborhoods that is intended to expand access to healthy food, promote healthy public housing committees https://fnfcg.org/residential-programs-for-troubled-youth/ and to develop young leadership. Another program comes from Grow to Learn, which provides opportunities for public school students to learn through urban farming.
While it is an essential anchor in the preservation of culture, traditional farming raises significant environmental concerns. Traditional farming techniques are the reason behind some of the world’s ongoing challenges, such as climate change, deforestation, water shortages and food accessibility issues. But some entrepreneurs and farmers are beginning to find a solution to this problem, one of which can be found in the abandoned warehouses in our cities, in new buildings built on environmentally damaged lands, and even in used shipping containers from ocean transports.
Although small-scale, residential vertical gardening is under practice for several years, commercial-scale vertical farms have become an important topic of discussion for the past few years in the United States. This new farming technology is growing rapidly, and entrepreneurs in many cities are taking an interest in this innovative farming system . This paper highlights the missing layers of urban farm locations and is focused on the commercial perspective of producing crops in the city of Bangkok and its surrounding provinces.
Vertical Farms With Artificial Lighting
Urban agriculture has also been viewed negatively in Harare because it impedes on housing and urban development. In the eyes of Zimbabwean laws, agriculture was not an “urban” activity or a legitimate form of land use in cities. In 1983, the Greater Harare Illegal Cultivation Committee was formed, though its efforts to curb urban agriculture wholly failed. Urban farming initiatives across the State of Illinois, including Chicago, have been spearheaded by advocacy groups.
The purpose of these grants is to increase infrastructure and operations capacity for new and established District farms towards advancing sustainable urban agriculture and for the benefit of historically underserved communities. There are however some inspiring examples such as the 7-hectare urban farm at La Chapelle International in Paris, which has relied on a mix of activities rather than simply selling its produce to develop a viable economic model. Indeed, it is the programmatic mix of the space, combining production and events, that makes their model sustainable.
Scientists visualized the “edible city” and introduced the concept of continuous productive urban landscape , recommending the coherent introduction of interlinked productive landscapes into cities as an essential element of sustainable urban infrastructure. However, farming in the city context can be challenging, as the changing context toward urbanism can have both positive and negative effects on the farms. On the one hand, the changing context toward urbanisation can bring more customs to the urban farms. On the other hand, urbanisation has a negative effect on the crucial resources for urban farming, such as water quality from urban runoff and air pollution. On this issue, the farmers who own the lands could be suffering from this changing context. The high cost and the relative value of the land can be the other factors that cannot compare with the profit from greenhouse urban farming if compared to the cash obtained upon selling the land.
All are “propaganda gardens” promoting locals to consider growing local, to eat seasonal, to consider the provenance of their food, and to enjoy fresh. There are food plots in the street, in the health center car park, at the rail station, in the police station, in the cemetery, and in all the town’s schools. In light of these benefits, urban agriculture is growing more common in Australia, particularly in the form of urban farms and roadside gardens. In some cities, local councils have even encouraged urban agriculture by providing residents with guidelines to support roadside gardens.
How Urban And Traditional Farming Differ In Food Miles
Recent publication by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, urban eaters consume most of the food produced globally and maintain more resource-intensive diets including increased animal-source and processed foods — rich in salt, sugar and fats. At the same time, many urban populations — particularly in low-income areas and informal communities — endure acute hunger and malnutrition as well as limited access to affordable, healthy food. During the period between World War I and II, the colonial government usurped urban vegetable farms in order to feed the allied forces stationed in the country. Prior to 1972, government officials were largely hostile to the planting of indigenous crops. However, economic downturn and food shortages during the mid-1970s led to a major policy reversal, and Ghanaians across the country were encouraged to grow food of their own choosing. In 2014, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo promised to devote 100 hectares of Paris to green space, with 30 hectares specializing in urban agriculture.
Most urban farms agree on the main challenges that they face; production costs, managing pests, managing weeds, and climate. They also see profitability, financing, and farm labor as big challenges of managing an urban farm. Beijing’s increase in land area from 4,822 square kilometres in 1956 to 16,808 square kilometres in 1958 led to the increased adoption of peri-urban agriculture. Such “suburban agriculture” led to more than 70% of non-staple food in Beijing, mainly consisting of vegetables and milk, to be produced by the city itself in the 1960s and 1970s. Recently, with relative food security in China, periurban agriculture has led to improvements in the quality of the food available, as opposed to quantity. One of the more recent experiments in urban agriculture is the Modern Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Xiaotangshan.
Specialisation, niche production, multifunctionality, food chain management, quality of food, and embeddedness of food are listed by Wästfelt & Zhang as appropriate for urban agriculture activities. By focusing on the consumer side, Barbieri & Mahoney and Inwood & Sharp highlight that better chances of farm business survival and development exist for those city-adjustments which apply immediate consumer orientations and relationships. Agricultural innovations often take place on farms within metropolitan areas and subsequently diffuse into rural areas (Prain & de Zeeuw 2007; Elgåker & Wilton 2008; Zasada 2011). SoilUrban soilUrban soil is often exposed to many strong influences which result in contamination and structural deterioration. Among others, urban soils can be contaminated with hydrocarbons and/or heavy metals, which can accumulate in produce and compromise human health. Before growing food in urban soils, soils have to be tested for exceeding the contaminant limits.
The economic growth, industrialisation and urbanisation has caused increased concentrations of pollutants such as ozone , nitrous oxides , sulphur dioxide and suspended particulate matter in urban areas. Interestingly tap water, as the only water source was used by only 23% of the projects, while most projects (45%) used a mixture of sources. The use of wastewater, greywater or stored rainwater was rare – one project relied to 100% on natural rain.
Involvement in UA may also cause better mitigation of diseases as it has better nutritional and medicinal properties in homegrown medicinal plants, it causes more physical exercise, and people do not have to depend on gifts and food aid which may enhance their self-esteem. UA also increases the accessibility of fresh and affordable food for other urban consumers, as most of the food produced by urban farmers is bartered or sold locally. In Sierra Leone, the residents devoted themselves in UA in order to meet their daily foods during the civil war that lasted for about 10 years. UA acts as a survival strategy for the refugees and helps them to live in a state of being worthy for honor . Experimental BM includes projects that retain a high level of innovation, generally linked to new food producing technologies or adaptation of existing solutions to the urban environment.