Real estate news now covers urban farming

Suburban goats? This Hadley, NY home for sale comes with a goat pen and fenced area.

Zillow Blog – Little Farm in the Big City

By Erika Riggs
Zillow Blog
November 21, 2011

Excerpt:

With a local food movement, a downsized economy and more people eager to find practical and hands-on methods of satisfying some basic needs, it could mean finding yourself living amongst chickens, goats, rows of lettuce or a forest of towering tomato vines.

Welcome to the new era of urban farming.

Residents within the limits of many U.S. cities are learning that some neighbors want to make more full use of their property. And that has put some pressure on municipalities to revisit local laws that regulate the occupancy and management of animals and crops.

According to the USDA, urban farming is booming with around “15 percent of the world’s food now grown in urban areas.” The numbers have been goosed thanks to national, local and healthy food advocates like Michelle Obama and her White House garden and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, who has a plan for converting vacant lots into farm space. The new interest in urban gardening and farming could push the movement beyond the victory gardens during World War II.

Read the complete article here.