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'''Urban (or peri-urban) agriculture''' is the practice of [[agriculture]] (including crops, [[livestock]], [[fishery|fisheries]], and [[forestry]] activities) within or surrounding the boundaries of [[city|cities]].

The land used may be private residential land (use of private pieces of land, [[balcony|balconies]], [[wall]]s or building [[roof]]s), public roadside land or river banks.

Urban farming is practiced for [[income]]-earning or [[food]]-producing activities. It contributes to [[food security]] and [[food safety]] in two ways : first it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and second it allows fresh [[vegetable]]s and [[fruit]]s to be made available to urban consumers.

Because it promotes energy-saving [[local food]] production, urban and peri-urban agriculture are [[sustainability]] practices.

==A new definition of urban agriculture==
Urban agriculture is an industry located within (intra-urban) or on the fringe (peri-urban) of a town, a city or a metropolis, which grows and raises, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products, (re-) using largely human and natural resources*, products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human and material resources, products and services largely to that urban area. (* Natural resources refer to soil, water, genetics, air and solar energy.)

(This definition has been created by the Luc Mougeot of the [[International Development Research Centre]] and used in technical and training publications by UN-HABITAT’s Urban Management Programme , FAO’ s Special Programme for Food Security , and international agricultural research centres, such as CIRAD.)

==Why urban agriculture has grown in importance==
===Local economies===
Localized food production in urban and peri-urban areas creates stronger local economies by creating jobs. Some researchers indicate that [[unemployed]] populations in large [[cities]] and [[suburban]] towns would decrease if put to work by local food movements. Schools, such as the [[Waldorf School]], have foreseen the asset of local food production and are beginning to incorporate an agricultural section in their curriculum and present it as a career opportunity. Urban agricultural projects are beginning to open a new [[labor market]] in areas that have been negatively affected by industrial [[outsourcing]] of jobs.

===Energy efficiency===
The current [[industrial agriculture]] system is accountable for high energy costs for the [[transportation]] of [[foodstuffs]]. According to [[San Diego's Community Forest Advisory Board]], a group that is promoting urban agriculture in the city, 95% of the food produced within the United States is [[exported]], while 95% of the food eaten in the United States is [[imported]].<sup title="Needs citation">[''[[Wikipedia:Citing sources|citation needed]]'']</sup><includeonly>[[Category:Articles with unsourced statements]]</includeonly> The energy used to transport food would be greatly decreased if urban agriculture could provide the US cities with locally-grown food.

===Quality of food===
Although the taste of locally grown food is subjective, many participants in the urban agriculture movement report they prefer the taste of local agricultural products, or [[organic food]], to that of industrial food production. Also, urban agriculture supports a more sustainable production of the food that tries to decrease the use of harmful [[pesticides]] that result in agricultural [[runoff]]. Urban and local farmers also eliminate the need for [[preservatives]], as their products do not need to travel long distances.

[[User:Roxsen|Roxsen]] 21:09, 6 April 2007 (UTC)==Implementations of urban agriculture==
Historically, urban agriculture has been used as a tool for sustainable development in the third world, or as an add-on to not-for-profit urban community gardens in the developed world. Thus far, cities have not marshalled or encouraged the entrpreneurial aspects of farming.
What has held back entrepreneurial urban agriculture in the was the lack of a farming method that is commercially viable and replicable. SPIN-Farming, which stands for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive provides such a method because it adapts commerical growing techniques to sub-acre (less than an acre) land masses. Developed by Canadian farmer Wally Satzewich, it has been tested and refined at Somerton Tanks Farm in Philadelphia. By applying many of the principles of SPIN, Somerton Tanks Farm has produced levels of production and income that many agricultural experts claimed was impossible. In 2006, its fourth year in operation, the farm generated $68,000 in gross sales from a half-acre. SPIN provides a model for re-casting farming as a small business adn is defined by these key characteristics:

• Sub-acre
• Environmentally friendly
• Low-capital intensive
• Close to markets
• Entrepreneurially-driven

SPIN-Farming provides a commercially viable method that is stating to be used to move urban agriculture beyond the realm of environmentalists and social activists, and is helpign to demonstrate that urban agiruclutre makes good business sense.

===Community-based infrastructure===
Creating a community-based infrastructure for urban agriculture means facilitating how crops are grown, how the food is processed, and how is it transferred from the farmer ([[Production, costs, and pricing|producer]]) to the [[consumer]].

To facilitate the growing of crops and food production, cities have established community-based farming projects. A [[common land]], much like that of [[eighteenth-century]] [[Boston Common]], would effectively centralize food production in urban areas where space is limited. An example of a community farm is the [[Collingwood Children’s Farm]] in [[Melbourne, Australia]]. Other proposals include creating community tool sheds and processing facilities for farmers to share, once again centralizing the resources. The Garden Resource Program Collaborative based in Detroit has cluster tool banks. Different areas of the city have a toolbank where resources like tools, compost, mulch, tomatoe stakes, seeds, and education can be shared and distributed with the gardeners in that cluster. Detroit's Garden Resource Program Collaborative also strengthens their gardening community by providing to their members transplants; education on gardening, policy, and food issues; and by building connectivity between gardeners through workgroups, potlucks, tours, fieldtrips, and cluster workdays.

[[Farmers' markets]], such as the [[Farmers' Market in Los Angeles]], provide a common land where farmers can sell their product to consumers. Large cities tend to open their farmers markets on the weekends and one day in the middle of the week. For example, the farmers' market of Rue [[Richard Lenoir]] in [[Paris, France]], is open on Sundays and Thursdays. However, to create a consumer dependency on urban agriculture and to introduce local food production as a sustainable career for farmers, markets would have to be open regularly. For example, the Los Angeles Farmers' Market is open seven days a week and has linked several local grocers together to provide different food products. The market’s central location in downtown Los Angeles provides the perfect interaction for a diverse group of sellers to access their consumers.

Individuals outside of the farmer/buyer market have incorporated food production into their urban fabric through [[roof garden]]s. Roof gardens allow for urban dwellers to maintain green spaces in the city without having to set aside a tract of undeveloped land.

===Finding a labor force===
Cities that are serious about introducing urban agriculture face the problem that there is no ready labor force to produce food. Programs such as [[Welfare (financial aid)|Welfare]]-to-Work offer a source of labor for the urban agriculture movement. This would cause the positive [[externality]] of lowering the unemployed and welfare-dependent population in large cities and suburban areas.

Another proposal is to train [[prison]] inmates how to produce food. The [[San Francisco]] County Jail, in conj
unction with [[Tree Corps]] and [[Garden Project]], provide inmates with an agricultural education and individual plots to grow their own food. Jails use [[horticulture]] to teach inmates how to work cooperatively with other inmates and also how to be responsible for their own [[nutrition]] and [[health]]. Agriculture and [[gardening]] provide a fresh air environment for inmates in which they can learn skills that will help them assimilate into society. The San Francisco County Jail’s [[recidivism]] rate dropped from 55% to 24% within two years of implementing the Garden Project. Therefore prisons could begin to implement the Garden Project and transform the institutions into [[rehabilitation (penology)|rehabilitation]] and agriculture education facilities. Ex-convicts could then fill the labor gap for urban agriculture projects.

===Sustaining a labor force===
[[Schools]] have begun to implement agricultural curricula into traditional school environments. The Waldorf School campuses use school-wide [[community gardening]] to teach nutrition to the students. Such organization exposes students in urban environments to [[rural]] agricultural practices that they would not have been exposed to otherwise. Students are taught to appreciate agriculture as an integral part of their urban education; this education in turn provides an avenue for a future career in urban agriculture. Introducing nutrition through agriculture in urban and peri-urban school thus increases the likelihood that an urban agricultural labor force will be sustained in future generations.

[[Community centers]] and gardens educate the community to see agriculture as an integral part of urban life. [[The Florida House Institute for Sustainable Development]] in [[Sarasota, Florida]], serves as a public community and education center in which innovators with sustainable, energy-saving ideas can implement and test them. Community centers like Florida House provide urban areas with a central location to learn about urban agriculture and to begin to integrate agriculture with the urban lifestyle.

Other examples of community centers are [[Greensgrow Farm]] in [[Philadelphia]] and [[Northey Street City Farm]] in [[Brisbane, Australia]]. Greensgrow uses an abandoned site as an urban farm to teach the community how food is grown and how to grow their own food. Northey Street City Farm hosts weekly community activities to educate and involve local residents in agricultural practices.

===Government interaction===
Another way in which urban agricultural practices could be advanced is through [[government]] interaction. One researcher proposes [[tax breaks]] be given to sellers and buyers of locally-grown food. Other researchers suggest discounts be given at farmers’ markets or [[tariffs]] be placed on imported foods that can be grown locally.

== Limitations ==
Urban agriculture has been criticized by those who believe that industrial farm production can produce food at larger volumes more efficiently.

A major argument is whether urban farming alone - that is farming very intensively on small land areas - could replace land extensive production in rural areas which produce the bulk of our food products. Yet, hunger persists in both urban and rural areas (see more on [[food security]]), despite a subsidized industrial agriculture. The degree to which urban agriculture can address these food needs systemically is undetermined, though there are indications in some communities it is an important source of food [http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-9354-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html].

Other opponents argue that localized food production and the introduction of common resources and common lands into the urban areas would produce a [[tragedy of the commons]]. Though, as referenced earlier, many urban farms and [[community gardens]] are managed privately or through other civil society organizations.

A potential concern associated with urban agriculture is suspected or real soil contamination, which can be costly to address. However, strategies exist to improve the soil quality safely [http://www.ruaf.org/node/1003] while still meeting the food needs of urban residents [http://www.growingpower.org/index.htm].

==References==
*[http://www.southsideclt.org/ Southside Community Land Trust, Providence, RI]
*[[South Central Farm|South Central Farm, Los Angeles]]
*[http://www.greensgrow.org/ Greensgrow Farms, Philadelphia]
*[http://evanstonfuture.org/Urban_Farm_Evanston.pdf The Talking Farm, Evanston, IL]
*[http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/louv/20050524-9999-lz1e24louv.html/ "Making San Diego an 'Edible' City"]
*[http://northeystreetcityfarm.org.au/ Northey Street City Farm]
*[http://www.sustainabletable.org/ Sustainable Table]
*[http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:54YXDXAcbloJ:www.foodsecurity.org/PrimerCFSCUAC.pdf+urban+agriculture+welfare+to+work&hl=en/ Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States].
*[http://www.interscience.wiley.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/fulltext/104557853/PDFSTART/ Water, Land, and Health of Urban and Peri-Urban food production: the case of Kano, Nigeria]
Pacione, Micheal. "Local Exchange Trading Systems - A Rural Response to the Globalization of Capitalism?" ''Journal of Rural Studies.'' Vol. 13, No. 4
*[http://www.clas.wayne.edu/multimedia/usercontent/File/Geography%20and%20Urban%20Planning/K.Pothukuchi/foodsystemonurbanagenda.pdf Pothukuchi, Kameswari, and Jerome L Kaufman - Placing the Food System on the Urban Agenda]
*[http://www.ruaf.org/node/512/ Urban Agriculture What & Why] (RUAF)
*[http://www.cityfarmer.org/uajustification.html Jacobi, Drescher & Amend - Urban Agriculture - Justification and Planning Guidelines]

==See also==
*[[Allotment gardens]]
*[[Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)]]
*[[Community Food Security Coalition]]
*[[Community gardens]]
*[[Container garden]]
*[[Ecological sanitation]]
*[[Intercultural Garden]]
*[[Living wall]]
*[[Permaculture]]
*[[Vertical farming]]
*[[Sustainable agriculture]]
*[[Rooftop gardens]]
*[[Sheet mulching]]

==External links==
*[http://www.cityfarmer.org/ City Farmer's Urban Agriculture Notes]
*[http://www.ruaf.org/ RUAF]- Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security]
*[http://www.fao.org/urbanag/default.asp FAO Electronic Conference]
*[http://www.puvep.com/ Periurban Vegetable Project (PUVeP), Philippines]
*[http://www.growingpower.org/index.htm Growing Power, Milwaukee, WI (USA)]
*[http://www.urbanagriculture-news.com/ Urban Agriculture News]
*[http://www.farmersmarketla.com/ Original Farmers' Market]
*[http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/FHLC/flahouse.html Florida House Learning Center]
*[http://www.awsna.org/ Waldorf Schools of North America]
*[http://www.farm.org.au/ Collingwood Children's Farm]
*[http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ Path to Freedom - Urban Agriculture & Sustainability]
*[http://foodafrica.nri.org/urbanisation/urbanisationlinks.html NRI Internet Forum]
*[http://www.newfarmcity.org/ New Farm City - Urban Agriculture]
*[http://www.idrc.ca/upe/ International Development Research Centre]
*[http://detroitagriculture.org/ Detroit Garden Resource Program Collaborative]
*[http://www.earth-works.org/Projects_Page.html/ Earthworks Urban Farm]

[[Category:Agriculture]]
[[Category:Sustainable technologies]]
[[Category:Urban agriculture]]

Urban agriculture - Revision history

WikiWorks at 14:22, 9 April 2007