Community Gardens As Alternative For Industrial Agriculture

Times have changed, and so has the family, the community and our environment. And these changes have impacted our lives and earth immeasurably. This is where the factor greed comes in to play, the need for more. This need for more called for extensive measures, measures like fertilizers, pesticides and equipment to work the ground and harvest the crops became necessity. Agriculture became a booming business that did not and still does not promote the well-being of the employee nor the individual let alone the family unit and community. Since 1950 an average farm size has doubled, but the number of laborers decreased substantially and the number of small local farmers has been cut in half. Farmers have been forced to become more efficient and there 's been a reliance on greater chemicals and technology, which has become very extensive and expensive. Sadly, what has been short term expansion has become a long-term threat (Trautmann, 2012). This greed driven increase has led to subtle damaging ramifications that most people are ignorant to. Their needs are being met as quality is being forsaken. Our environment is being squandered. Selfishness abounds.

When you think of the word agriculture farming is probably the first thought that comes to mind. At its most basic element, agriculture is the way in which we produce food, the most basic human need. There is an untold amount of differing opinions on the topic of how we should grow food; smaller family farms being pitted against commercial operations, conventional agriculture against organic practices, and much of the public does not know what “side” to pick. Agriculture has developed into a highly controversial issue, with each view point claiming that it is the only correct way to farm; despite this, it is imperative that we lay aside our differences in opinion and come together if we are going to create a sustainable food system responsible for feeding 9 billion hungry mouths.

Global warming, pollution, and dwindling fossil fuels will always be the conservational problems if nobody starts to buy local grown foods. Katherine Spriggs, author of the essay, “On Buying Local,” explains how having a large variety of foods at all times of the year is not worth the negative effects in the communities and their economies (Spriggs 92). As a community, many environmental challenges are being faced; Buying local will help bring advantages to not only the environment, but also the small towns and the

To conclude, our current way of agricultural life is not sustainable. The article “What’s for supper” has made me realize that if I hope for a better future for generations to come I should support a locally sourced lifestyle. This article is an eye opener to me and proved to me the importance of supporting locally grown produce. Locally grown produce supports the environment as well as jobs for people in the community. The current system takes a toll on every species on the planet. Humans are overproducing on a massive scale and are wasting close to half of our supplies and

Lastly the author recommends community gardening as the best option because it will bring the community together. The author claims that the garden will be ‘a great way for children to learn,’ also that ‘kids spend far too much time inside’ and the garden will provide a healthy option for them to go outside and do some physical work in the fresh air. Referring to children as one of the main benefiters from the garden the author not only appeals to the council, because children are the future of their community but also appeals to parents as they want their community to be a healthy and sufficient place for their children. The author declares to the council

Through Finley's story, members had the opportunity to learn that urban farming is much deeper than a mere passion for gardening, it's about sustainability within our communities; creating a system that can uplift communities nationwide.

In fact, it is also necessary for governmental bodies to become involved in promoting localized food such as policies and labelling laws that encourage healthier eating and food re-localization. In addition, regulations to foster sustainable food production are essential. Moreover, in the movie Cuban, the Accidental Revolution, David Suzuki, introduces how the government’s vision becomes one with the farmers, that there is a possibility for the industrial food system to work together. For example, Cuban agronomists describe the benefits of crop rotation for soil health, while Cuban farmers express pleasure with the relative productivity and profitability of their ecological and somehow newly industrialized farming systems. By inventing a new way to create food and working with nature, profit is gained and diversity is generated leading the country to possess the largest national program in sustainable agriculture. With the government’s assistance, farmers learn to do more with less and growing food as a community becomes more a passion that profits. In his article, Wes Jackson also supports the idea of finding a new way to create food without technology and science. Instead of focusing mainly on the local food systems, he emphasizes that by using all the knowledge acquired from the pioneers and their cleverness, we can build domestic prairies that have high-yielding fields that are planted only once every twenty years. It is not the entire answer to the total agriculture problems, but breeding new crops from native plants selected from nature’s abundance and simulating the resettlement botanical complexity of a region should make it easier to solve many agricultural problems (40). The share to work side by side with nature may be one of the solution to establish a new sea of perennial prairie

Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation is creating an urban garden that would use the joy of gardening to provide intergenerational and cross-cultural connections within a food desert with access to fresh fruits and vegetables and weekly physical activities using the joy of gardening. The program will promote positive behavioral changes that include better nutrition and increase physical activity among participants while teach entrepreneurship skills to the youth through the farmers’ market. In addition, the garden and market would be used to teach youth and low-income families gardening and entrepreneurial skills while also providing the low-income community to be served with regular access to fresh fruit and vegetables. TWEF will also provide

A community garden helps the people involved connect on so many levels. Food is an item that can be connected to almost anything imaginable. This non profit garden allows members of the community to work together and to watch their efforts succeed as the garden prospers. The idea of the community garden is phenomenal. The main focus of the garden is for the volunteers to be able to give back and to share their connections as well as the beautiful produce that results from their efforts.

In his article, “Setting the table for Urban Agriculture,” accredited writer, Michael Pollan, expounds upon Urban Agriculture and it’s place in the twenty-first century. Pollan’s purpose is to explain to readers the legal and societal context of Urban Agriculture. He uses a serious tone and real world examples in order to solidify the idea that Urban Agriculture is an integral part of our “local, regional, national, and global” food infrastructure.

Historically, planners and developers have waited until this point before looking outside a region for potential development sites. This is a difficult point from which to return, and in many cases impossible. Capacity to produce sufficient food on a local scale is an enormous hurdle for this bioregion. Perhaps more challenging is that this blight is common to many adjacent regions. One solution is to improve on alternative production processes such as Urban Agriculture (UA) which until recently has been associated with cities in developing countries. However, “recent concerns about economic and food security have resulted in a growing movement to produce food in cities of developed countries including the United States.”(Lovell 2010)

He advocates us to abandon these rural areas and allow the planet to take over these farmlands and return them to native environments. Instead, he educates us on the practical use of urban farming or, as he coined it, “vertical farming.” This refers to the growth of crops, usually without soil or natural light, in plots arranged vertically inside a building. In these controlled environments, farmers would no longer have to pray for rain or fear a bad harvest and this allows a year-round harvest for all crops so that nothing will ever be ‘out of season’ (3).

Hence this could create a systemic ideology of farm to fork that would procreate within the community. Along with this practice, we must decrease unnecessary distribution and the transport of food. The area in which a product is raised is the area in which that product should be expended, “consumers should be encouraged to eat in ways that support environmentally sound, healthful food, and carbon sequestration” (Niman pg. 48). Through revitalization of local food growth and consumption, the price of goods in the area would aid in the elimination of the middleman as well as the wholesalers to whom gain a profit from the farmer. By means of a holistic approach, The overall simplification of downsizing and educating our agriculture system is the resolution to creating a renewable and just future for our food

The symbolic and motivational impact that these fruit trees have in generating community awareness and participation multiply the impact the fruit itself has on building equity in the human community. This garden is a visual reminder of community connectedness and the importance placed by volunteers and community members on our commitment as a society to be more inclusive and provide

Small scale market gardening is the way to produce vegetables and some other crops under a design of sustainable and small garden for market value.