Setting The Table For Urban Agriculture

Through a multitude of significant changes physically, conceptually, economically, and more, the societal reformation of cities in the Progressive Era had set themselves as the foundations of American civilization. The juxtaposition between the rich and poor statuses in these urban areas show the drastic separation within developing cities. Through this division caused a wide variety of living conditions, the majority of which held the overcrowded sections of cities where the population mostly stayed while the higher end communities had more luxurious lives. Through this success of entrepreneurship and economic growth from all aspects in cities, the entire landscape, both physically through innovative architecture and the perspectives outside rural and suburban areas had on them, had transformed for the better in these areas.

Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes .Changes that were a product of influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase on exported goods, do the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads. Moreover they were discontented with the approach that the government had taken towards the situation.

The three contingencies of Patel’s plan include changing the governing laws of agribusiness, improving the conditions of and supporting rural areas, and changing the role of eating in society. Before much progress can be made, the ways in which businesses are required to operate must change. Without any new legislations to stand in their way, nothing will alter the ways in which they operate or the ways they look to further solidify their dominance. Next, rural growers simply need more help. In current conditions, they barely scrape by due to the increasing demands from their purchasers and the decreasing amounts of compensation collected. Contrary to the original perception, crop subsidies, most associated with corn, provide no help to these smaller farmers. They can’t compete with the mass-growers and their enormous swathes of land. It drives the rural farmers out of those particular markets, and it often prevents them from growing crops their land is most suitable for. Finally, Pollan pushes the idea that there must be a revamp of the meaning of food to consumers. As it stands, people view eating as a task rather than an enjoyable experience. This leads the consumer to think little of the food, especially in ways Michael Pollan insist they must think about the food. This anti-cooking architecture of society is, nonetheless, a self-perpetuating cycle of

"I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds." These famous words from "The FFA Creed" by E.M. Tiffany outline the basic beliefs of FFA members and agriculturists around the world. But these values, although crucial to the sustaining of our world's ever-increasing population, are growing more and more detached from the people not involved in agriculture. Although food and fiber production has increased in recent years, providing more bushels per acre and more meat per head of cattle, the agriculture industry has come under fire due to an overwhelming majority of people being totally disconnected from the agriculture industry. Today, we'll examine the primary causes of this disconnect, the negative effects on agriculture and our society as a whole that results from it, and how you can help solve this ever-growing problem.

Since the beginning of human development humans have been revolving around agriculture. It is known that, “Archaeologists and palaeontologists have traced the origins of farming to around 10,000 years ago” (Mason). This is truly remarkable to believe that the revolution as a whole may pivot on this period so long ago. Once this happened agriculture began popping up all around the ancient world spreading like wildfire. This planting of crops and domestication of animals allowed people to develop specialization because not everyone had to forage anymore. This allowed

FRESH is a documentary by Ana Sofia Joanes, she explores the consequences of our current agricultural system and documents the work of farmers, activists, non-profit organizations and business that advocate for sustainable agricultural practices to address the problem. The film presents the farmers from Shenandoah Valley that practice traditional farming by raising and keeping their chickens, pigs, cattle and soil in traditional ways that attempt to imitate the way in which nature naturally works on nutrient and energy cycling. These practices challenge the industrial agricultural model that use a high input of resources to produce large amounts of a single crops/species in designated areas known as monocultures. Monoculture agricultures relies

In the chapter of “Will’s Compost” from The Good Food Revolution by Will Allen discusses about a bad side and a good side of urban agriculture. Urban agriculture is booming in United States and there are a lot of non-profit organizations involve to create a strong urban agriculture progress. Allen also mentions that most of people living in urban areas are highly integrated with food insecurity and also most of the farmers had sold their land to the developers. From my reading, I started to have a thought about the benefits of urban agriculture. Does urban agriculture offers any other benefits other than what Allen has mentioned and through out its progress, is there any challenges faced by the farmers?

The first reason of why agriculture is a better way of life, is because according to document 1 farmers were less violent. Hunters and gatherers on the other hand were in constant state of tribal warfare. This resulted in 25-30% of adult males dying from homicide. Warfare was necessary to keep population density low. This was due to the fact that a certain place only had so much food to support one person. Farmers on the other hand could use a small piece of land and plant crops that could support many people. They do not have to fight over food therefore less war and violence.

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

Poor American farmers might have moved to the cities during the Great depression simply because they felt economically disenfranchised. The country was undergoing a very hard time economically wise which motivated many people (mostly farmers) from all parts of the country to move to cities. All of the documents (1, 2, 3, 4,5,6,7, and 8) we read in class actually do show that most Americans had lost their jobs and consequently couldn’t take care of their families unless they moved to cities.

Pollan goes on to suggest that there are many different approaches to the food movement, and although the movement seems splintered and “sometimes the various factions […] work at cross purposes,” the author uses some highly credible sources to show that despite its many offshoots, a cohesion of the masses has taken root in the food movement (par.11). The author uses big names like Troy Duster, who is a renowned research sociologist from Northwestern University, to help clarify his point. Troy duster states that “viewed from a middle distance, then, the food movement coalesces around the recognition that todays food and farming economy is unsustainable, […] that it can’t go on in its current form much longer without courting a breakdown of some kind.” (Par. 13). The author then clarifies his point but stating that “the food system consumes more fossil fuel energy than we can count on in the future […] and emits more greenhouse gases than we can afford to emit.” (Par. 14). Pollan uses his sources as an ethical appeal to the readers, which effectively connects the reader to the article and its

     Farmers were once known for being able to do everything themselves. They grew their own food and sewed their own clothes. People often yearn for the old days and complain about so many people living in cities. Many farmers had to give up their farms and move to the cities, because of something that happened in the late nineteenth century.

Yet, as cities grow, they have to expand and the countryside begins to urbanize as well, causing farms to sell some of their land, or shut down. Implementing urban agriculture could minimize the negative effects of urbanization in the United States, including the increased demand for food, loss of traditional farmland, and poor environments in cities. As the country’s population continues to increase, more people are moving out of the rural parts of the country and into the cities and suburbs. Unfortunately, as the population increases, so does the demand for food, and urbanization has left less people to work on the farms that produce the food.

Currently, most of the world’s population is living in urban areas which have implications for land use and land changes, use of natural resources, and the absorption of rural labour in urban areas. The rural and urban interdependence means the flow of natural resources, agricultural commodity, money, information and services between rural and urban areas. Moreover, the rural population is adopting the urban style and behaviour or is becoming socially urbanized. According to Steinberg (2014) economic development and natural resource use and as well as livelihoods bind urban and rural areas together. These indicate that urban and rural areas have a symbiotic relationship, which makes them to depend on each other. Thus, one area needs the other to function and develop. This essay will outline and discuss the ways and reasons why urban and rural areas are interdependent on each other.

The city of Aligarh has experienced significant and consequential agroecological loss, exacerbated by the dumping of garbage and the urban contamination of runoff onto its hinterland. Indeed, between 1980 and 2010, Aligarh and its hinterland lost 5,448 hectares of fertile agricultural land to urban development-- almost 43% irrevocably--, resulting in an estimated loss of 190,680 quintals of food grain production (Fazal, 2013, p. 45). Population growth threatens to grow this tremendous loss and even intensify its dangers to society in terms of food scarcity and the associated havoc it can wreak. Practices such as garbage dumping