Urban Farming

Modern day farming has transformed from the farming process of last century. Instead of farmers producing for their families, farmers are now similar to input/output managers supplying massive manufacturers that feed the country.

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?

While most of the country was celebrating the end of the Great Depression and the new flow of wealth surrounding war industries, the farmers of America

Members of society are no longer able to fathom how those who live in small communities are able to grow and harvest their own foods for survival (Heilbroner 3). Just as Polanyi argues, Heilbroner concludes that the market indeed runs itself with a dialogue that reaffirms the notion of the system being in control of all modes of production and distribution without human intervention (13).

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.

Throughout time, humans have pushed forward in every aspect in life in order to improve their living standards, wealth and most importantly the agricultural sector which is the base of every human race. Food is the basic requirement for any individual to stay alive and healthy. In an article by Tamsin McMahon, she states that over the past 60 years, the world population has grown from 2.5 billion to 7 billion while world hunger dropped from 40% down to 15% (McMahon T., July 2012). This shows that our agricultural advances through technology have helped control world hunger and decrease it by more than half, but this is a short-term solution if we want to consider the future generations that depend on our current actions toward the three main pillars of agriculture which are: Health and nutrition, Economy and sustainability all while considering the local small farms and corporate farms.

During the Great Depression, Americans had to do whatever they can do to survive. They tried farming vegetables however, it resulted in them eating the vegetables before they were even ripe. There was an incredible amount of hunger in the US. The lines for just soup were horrendous. Serving only certain amounts of people in certain

During the war rationing was a big step towards the war effort many Americans suffered from the cut off of everyday supplies but they knew it was for a good cause. The citizens were so afraid of U.S. soil being targeted by other countries that they would do anything to help end the war. Americans were issued a stamp book which gave them a limited amount of times to buy a certain products, the products could not be sold if the buyer didn’t have a stamp. “Victory Gardens” which were home grown gardens so the food from factories could be sent to soldiers, were designed for the purpose in the name, to bring the U.S. a victory. Factories that use to make women’s dresses were now making military uniforms.

Foodie culture has taken many shapes over the years. The race to eat fresh, ethical, sustainable food spreads from label to label, ‘whole grain’ to ‘organic’, ‘farm-fresh’ to ‘non-GMO’. Recently developed is the locavore movement, proponents of a diet as locally produced as possible. While supporting local farmers is all well and good, the negative implications of a food radius are more far-reaching than you might think.

Despite endless efforts, farmers had to learn to adapt to a life in which their once precious crops would provide for nothing other than life’s

Our future goals are to provide the society with a sustainable source of food. We hope to provide and educate everyone with a modern way of farming. Our project hopes to bring down the food desserts, and start a domino effect of positive outcomes, and result in healthy and prepared to go into their future. Not only does our project have a direct effect on individual’s health and energy levels, but it will revolutionize urban

Pollan opens his article by describing the place of Urban Agriculture dating back to the nineteenth century, stating that, “Through the nineteenth century, vegetable gardens and farm animals were common features of city life in the United States.” In fact he goes on to say that over time agriculture died out in cities, and that now “a slow resurgence” has begun to restore agriculture in urban areas which he supports by describing the growth in many urban hubs. This technique of beginning with the history of Urban Agriculture allows Pollan to not only start with a broad and understandable aspect of the topic but also to introduce the reoccurring theme of urbanization to the article. The writer continues his introduction through the definition of the topic as a whole. Urban Agriculture as defined by Pollan is “a variety of economic and social activities related to food production, distribution, processing, eating, and disposal.” he follows this up by listing examples of Urban Agriculture in action all of which have the common

The alternative food movement in North America, manifesting largely through farmers’ markets, encourages people to buy local, eat organic, and to support local farmers, however these spaces are rarely reflective of the diverse population of farmers and buyers in the city (Gibb & Wittman, 2013). Moving from a personal to a political narrative, localisation is presented as the way to address social injustices and environmental degradation, working against our current destructive global agri-food system (Allen 2004,2010). Advocating for individuals to buy local organic food is seen as ‘voting’ for “healthier more authentic lives while making positive social and environmental change” (Alkon & Agyeman, 2011:2). Consequently, the concept of ‘local’ food and ‘just’ food are viewed interchangeably by certain actors in the food movement through the increasing integration of the word “justice” into their webpages, non-profit names, and programs (DuPuis, Harrison, & Goodman, 2011). However, I argue that the conflation of local food as “just” by alternative food movements in North America reinforces racial inequities and excludes those most harmed by the current food system, particularly low-income communities and communities of color. As such, this paper proposes the concept of “reflexive localism” as proposed by DuPuis, Harrison, & Goodman (2011) as an approach to address this process of exclusion.

In 2013, they expanded their efforts from defunct, undeveloped lots to organizing warehoused private land. A vast majority of the vacant lots in New York City are privately owned. Working with private landowners emphasizes the relationship between volunteers and owners. Three years later in 2014, an additional 3.12 acres of community space was created, bringing the total of new community space acreage from 2011 to 2014 to a total of 7.03. This year has been an exciting and productive year for 596 Acres. Related teams have helped plan NYCommons-- a city wide effort to influence policy around how the city deals with public spaces such as parks, libraries, and community gardens. Even more recent this year in Brooklyn, a community is working on turning a NYPD-controlled lot (currently a parking lot extension) into something more beneficial to the

The garden city idea emerged during a time when countries were beginning to urbanize (15% of the world’s population were urban, a rapidly growing figure). There, the living and working environments were squalid and the working