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Urban farming
From CopperWiki
A growing number of people in urban areas are rejecting manicured lawns to grow backyard farms that feed the owners, their neighbors and perhaps an occasional restaurant or food vendor. With a rise in the number of farmers' markets and a growing demand for eco-friendly products, organic foods and locally grown produce, urban farming is becoming increasingly popular
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[edit] Why should I be aware of this?
In the era of rising food prices, mad cows, tainted sandwich meat and pesticide fears, producing food in one's own backyard is an alluring idea. With farmers’ incentives for growing food taken over by cash crops such as ethanol producing corn, countries like the US are not only running out of food but are also running out of farmers.
[edit] Urban farming and health
Health professionals place enormous value in consumption of garden-scale urban farm produce for nutritional health and personal wellness. Growing food and non-food crops in and near town and cities contributes to healthy communities.
[edit] Urban farming and environment
Urban farms advance the health of the environment as well as that of human residents. It improves air quality and increases biodiversity. Rooted plants stabilize the ground and reduce soil erosion. Cared-for soils absorb rainfall that then does not run over exposed, compacted dirt and pavement absorbing toxic debris and dumping it into storm drains. Urban compost systems can transform much of a city’s organic waste for beneficial re-use.
[edit] All about urban farming
The Urban farming movement that has become a popular concept among city dwellers in recent years is really a very old idea. In the early 19th century, harvesting food in diminutive plots was also a hot trend in the push to contribute to war efforts. Those so-called Victory Gardens sprung up on public land -- even in Hyde Park, London -- in the 1940s, and regular citizens were encouraged to till their backyards into edible gardens.
Today significant amounts of food are cultivated in many parts of the world by entrepreneurial producers, community gardeners, backyard gardeners, and even food banks, in vacant lots, parks, greenhouses, roof tops, balconies, window sills, ponds, rivers, and estuaries.
[edit] FAO support
In response to the growth of cities in urban areas the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is supporting urban farming as one element in urban food supply systems.
As per UN projections by 2030, some two thirds of the world’s people will be living in cities and the world’s population will rise to nine billion by 2050. The FAO, under its “Food for the Cities” program, is helping a number of cities to support urban agriculture so that they can increasingly contribute to the job of feeding themselves.
