Category — Environment

A few of the steps urban farmers can take to protect the health and quality of our urban watershed

By Daniel Dermitzel
Mother Earth News
4/13/2011

Excerpt:

The growing popularity of urban agriculture presents an opportunity to reduce the amount of water and pollutants entering our combined sewer systems. Urban farmers and our community as a whole have much to gain from implementing a few simple techniques to reduce runoff and pollution of our urban watershed. Our productive urban landscapes (i.e., farms and gardens) have the potential to be more environmentally friendly than the many chemically treated lawns and unproductive green spaces we currently see throughout our city.

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Garden melody: Michael Leapman tests out some tunes on his seedlings. Photo: Carla Molden.

Do veg thrive on Verdi, will flowers blossom if they hear Handel? As The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra release a CD to encourage growth in the garden, Michael Leapman finds out if plants really do love the sound of music.

By Michael Leapman
The Telegraph
05 Apr 2011

Excerpt:

In 2003 some more serious South Korean researchers undertook a large project concentrating on two staples of the oriental diet, cucumber and Chinese cabbage. They played to them what they described as “green” sounds, combining classical music with noises that the plants might be expected to encounter in real life, such as bird calls and rushing water. They discovered that the effect of sound waves was to make the cabbages absorb more oxygen than those that had been raised in silence, with a consequently beneficial effect on their protein levels; but they appeared to have no effect on the cucumbers.

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The club intends to provide as many green spaces as possible for NYU students

By Yingying Yu
Washington Square News
April 3, 2011

Exceprt:

Right behind the Citibank on LaGuardia Place and West Third Street is a small space in Washington Square Village dedicated to growing squash, peppers, cucumbers and Brussels sprouts — all tended by environmentally conscious NYU students.

The Community Agriculture Club, a recent recipient of the President’s Service Award, was the original brainchild of Gallatin alumni Zoe Abram and Rachel Greenspan. The club went on hiatus in 2009. Current president and CAS senior Christine Johnson said she decided to revive CommunityAg after hearing Jeremy Friedman speak during one of her sustainability class lectures. Friedman helped her get the club up and running again with the help of dedicated executive board members.

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China has been rocked by numerous food scandals in recent years

By Grace Ng
Jakarta Globe -Straits Times Indonesia
March 27, 2011

Excerpt:

Beijing. Communes are making a comeback in rural China, but they are no longer driven by the Communist Party with the aim of building a socialist paradise.

Unlike Maoist-era collective farming, modern city folk are banding together to grow their own crops in response to rising food safety concerns.

Health-conscious young Chinese, with money to spare, are joining what are called “happy farms” proliferating by the thousands across the country.

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Lead remains the biggest problem for urban growers when it comes to soil contamination

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Detroit: March 23, 2011

Excerpt:

With remnants of once-legal lead paint, leaded gasoline and other pollutants from the nation’s industrial past tainting land in U.S. cities, soil researchers warn that the growing number of urban farmers and community gardeners need to test their dirt and take steps to make sure it’s safe.

They point to cities like Indianapolis, where nine out of 10 urban gardens tested by one researcher had problems with lead in the soil. Or the Boston area, where a recent study suggests that even clean, trucked-in soil can end up contaminated, perhaps by windblown dust or dirt splatted by rain, in a few short years.

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Photograph of women harvesting leafy greens in Kalale-Benin. Photo by Dov Pasternak.

The findings from the present study showed a clear evidence of the dynamics of malaria transmission in urban or sub-urban areas of Benin where vegetable farming activities have grown extensively.

By Anges Yadouleton, N’guessan Raphael, Allagbe Hyacinthe, Alex Asidi, Boko Michel, Osse Razack, Padonou Gil, Kinde Gazard and Akogbeto Martin
Parasites & Vectors 2010,
3:118doi:10.1186/1756-3305-3-118
Published: 12 December 2010

Abstract (provisional)

Background
Urban agricultural practices are expanding in several cities of the Republic of Benin. This study aims to assess the impact of such practices on transmission of the malaria parasite in major cities of Benin.

Method
A cross sectional entomological study was carried out from January to December 2009 in two vegetable farming sites in southern Benin (Houeyiho and Acron) and one in the northern area (Azereke). The study was based on sampling of mosquitoes by Human Landing Catches (HLC) in households close to the vegetable farms and in others located far from the farms.

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Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT).

With traditional food production under threat from climate change, we should switch from agriculture to cell culture, says Lucía Atehortúa.

Lucía Atehortúa
Science and Development Network
2 December 2010 |

Excerpt:

If climate change begins to limit the global production of food and energy crops, it will be necessary to develop a new system of food production.

Imagine agriculture in small spaces, using high-tech tools such as photo-bioreactors, generating clean products 24 hours a day, every day, regardless of external climatic factors. Imagine that this would be free of pathogens and agrochemicals, independent of the seasons, and with the possibility of growing genetically modified crops without interacting with the environment or affecting existing biodiversity.

This is ‘urban biofarming’, a kind of high-tech agriculture primarily developed for big cities.

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US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends:

1. Survey the property and identify potential risks and contaminants for testing.

2. Test your soil. Consider likely environmental contaminants, pH, organic content, and soil nutrients needed for healthy plant growth.

3. Clean contaminants and add soil amendments to create a safe growing environment.

4. Consider garden design including location, crops, water, sunlight, lighting, and accessibility.

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The Food project.

Deposition of Particulate Matter as a Mechanism for Trace Metal Contamination of Urban Gardens

By ESTES, Emily, CARTER-THOMAS, Megan R., and BRABANDER, Daniel J.

Geological Society of America
Nov 1, 2010

Boulder, CO, USA – If you’re a vegetable gardener in a lot of older cities, there’s a fair chance you have a significant amount of lead in your soil. One common mitigation approach is to build a raised bed and fill it with freshly composted, low-lead soil from elsewhere, right? Maybe not, according to researchers studying the mysterious case of the lead contamination found within raised beds in community gardens in the Boston communities of Roxbury and Dorchester.

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This coastal dumping ground is now home to a multi-purpose community centre in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. USDSA

Includes Agriculture on Remediated Brownfields and Case Study, Urban Oaks Organic Farm

By the American Planning Association

It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfield sites in the U.S. In many brownfield redevelopment projects, community groups are frequently left out of the process. However, they represent the main constituency that suffers from the negative impact of vacant and abandoned brownfield sites. The purpose of Creating Community-Based Brownfield Redevelopment Strategies is twofold: first, it is designed to help community-based organizations (CBOs) recognize that brownfields are opportunities for neighborhood revitalization,

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Children’s writer Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare founded farms for city children in 1976 at Nethercott, deep in Devon river country. They now operate three working farms: Treginnis Isaf on the Pembrokeshire coast opened twenty years ago and Wick Court in Gloucestershire opened in 1997. They aim to expand the horizons of children from towns and cities all over the country by offering them a week in the countryside living together on one of their farms. Illustration by Brian Gallagher.

Once upon a life

By Michael Morpurgo
The Observer
11 July, 2010

Michael Morpurgo and his wife were determined to change the lives of inner-city children by giving them an experience they’d never forget. The poet and author recalls how they started their first kids’ farm in Devon – and how one of the visiting children inspired his greatest literary work.

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What You Should Know about Growing Plants in Lead-Contaminated Soil

By Arthur Craigmill, University of California Cooperative Extension Environmental Toxicology Specialist, UC Davis; Ali Harivandi, University of California Cooperative Extension Environmental Horticulture Advisor, San Francisco Bay Area.
Publication 8424
September, 2010

Excerpt:

Can I do anything to reduce the amount of lead my vegetables take up from the soil?

Yes, you can! You can reduce the amount of lead uptake by plants by providing amendments that promote binding of the lead with other components of the soil, and also manage the soil acidity (pH).

Organic matter has been proven to bind and hold lead effectively, making it less available to plants. However, organic matter eventually breaks down, so the soil should be frequently amended with organic matter (compost, decomposing leaves, or well-rotted manure).

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Map of lead in soil in Indianapolis shows lead levels that should be of concern to urban gardeners. Credit: Gabriel Filippelli, Ph.D., professor of earth sciences at the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Environmental awareness can ensure that a garden is a healthy place to work

Cindy Fox Aisen
ScienceDaily
Sept. 27, 2010

Excerpt:

As city dwellers across the country are harvesting fruits and vegetables for family consumption and planning ahead for the next planting season, geochemist Gabriel Filippelli, Ph.D., professor of earth sciences at the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, warns that urban soil may be contaminated with lead. He advises investigating the legacy of contamination in soil before planting and eating.

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Experimental Agriculture Zones Along the fringes of the belt, micro-farming areas. These are serviced by ‘land-scanners’, a plug-and-play operated gantry farming system which enables ‘knowledge-intensive’ farming: mixed-cropping, rotation farming, and even mechanical tools such as weeding. In effect: they become laboratories for the principles of permaculture to be applied on a larger scale (acres per farmer).

Future farming along motorways

By Alastair Parvin

Excerpt:

Although to most of us they are invisible, we are all dependent on a few highly-complex, energy-intensive systems which ensure the continuous supply of food to cities. The increasing concentration of those systems and the first effects of global peak oil production will mean we can no longer afford to take them for granted. Rather than settle for the price-hikes inherent in the ‘local production’ solution, Server speculates upon whether we can redefine what is actually meant by the term ‘local’.

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The student garden at Harvard University, along bustling Mount Auburn Street, often draws second glances from passersby. Photo by John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff

At Bay State colleges, student gardens provide food for mind, body

By Tracy Jan
Boston Globe
September 7, 2010

Excerpt:

CAMBRIDGE — Tomatoes, Swiss chard, jalapeños, and other vegetables are sprouting on college campuses across the state — ready for harvesting this fall as part of a new student movement to promote sustainable agriculture and healthy eating.

On the Harvard University campus, the grassy plot dotted with raised wooden planters draws second glances from passersby, who seem surprised to discover the bounty along bustling Mount Auburn Street. Beanstalks climb 6 feet high. Bees buzz around thick patches of mint and chive. A sweet scent lingers near the basil (Thai and Italian). Some pedestrians stop to offer gardening advice.

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Brandy Humes now enjoys a lush garden full of tomatoes, watermelon, peppers and raspberries, but it took replacing all the soil on her property to make her feel comfortable about growing food. Photo by Richard Lautens, Toronto Star.

Lead poisoning in children can cause neurological damage

By Theresa Boyle
Toronto Star
September 3, 2010

Excerpt:

“My neighbourhood has a long history of contamination,” Armstrong says of the south Junction Triangle, once a highly industrialized area. “We have a 2½-year-old and a 6-year-old and we don’t want them eating anything that is questionable.”

It is for residents like Armstrong that the city is developing a soil-contaminant protocol. To be released next year, the protocol will help urban gardeners determine if their soil is contaminant-free. If it’s not, the protocol will explain how they can still grow edible fruits and vegetable on their property. This might involve doing raised-bed gardening or having their soil remediated.

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Breakdown of energy consumption in the U.S. food system, courtesy of the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems.

From the Liberal Curmudgeon Blog

By Stephen Budiansky
in the New York Times
August 19, 2010
Author, historian, and journalist Stephen Budiansky has written 14 books of history, biography, and science, including the forthcoming “Perilous Fight”.

Excerpt:

Leesburg, Va.
It’s 42 steps from my back door to the garden that keeps my family supplied nine months of the year with a modest cornucopia of lettuce, beets, spinach, beans, tomatoes, basil, corn, squash, brussels sprouts, the occasional celeriac and, once when I was feeling particularly energetic, a couple of small but undeniable artichokes. You’ll get no argument from me about the pleasures and advantages to the palate and the spirit of eating what’s local, fresh and in season.

But the local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas.

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The view of the neighborhood from Novella Carpenter’s “Ghost Farm.” Credit: Jeremy Adam Smith

The Weeds of Ecotopia

By Jeremy Adam Smith
shareable.net
July 20, 2010

Excerpt:

Jeremy Adam Smith: Do you see Ecotopia as a vision that you’re working towards on your farm?

Novella Carpenter: No. The thing is, I’m not part of that. Because that was like my parents’ deal. They were utopians. They were gonna go and live back to the land and all this stuff and I think that’s kind of bullshit. My tendency is to react against that, is to not ever think there’s going to be Utopia. It’s sort of a pessimistic optimism, is what I call it. So, you’re like, “I want to do this thing but everything’s fucked up.” I mean, it’s like that’s what is awesome about Ecotopia, is that everything isn’t fucked up.

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Illustration by Michael Scott, James Owens. Complete image is here.

There are at least 250 farms or gardens in Cleveland alone (covering a total of 65 acres)

By Michael Scott
The Plain Dealer
July 18, 2010

Excerpt:

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Toxic lead might still be the dirty little secret beneath Cleveland’s growing patchwork of urban farms and community vegetable plots– but it doesn’t have to ruin the garden party.

Even moderately lead-contaminated soil, of course, is still considered dangerous if untested or untreated at high concentrations — and city garden spots are among the most likely to have those dangerously high levels.

But lead contamination is also fast becoming an easily cleared hurdle for the new, aggressive agricultural pioneers pushing for more city farms and gardens. That goes for the rest of us simple backyard tomato, bean and zucchini growers, too, if we follow a few basic guidelines to keep toxic lead at bay.

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Boatanic – all green hands on deck!

By Damian O’Sullivan
Rotterdam (NL) 2010

The Boatanic (boat + botanic) is a novel concept that combines existing know-how to create an unprecedented solution for growing food within the inner city. Its aim is to reduce the environmental impact of our food which, today, still has to travel large distances before it hits our plates.

The concept is to simply convert discarded tourist boats into floating greenhouses as these are ideally suited due to their large glass windows. The idea dawned on Damian O’Sullivan as he was walking around Amsterdam and realised that the typical tourist boat actually resembled a greenhouse. ‘What if you replaced tourists with thyme or tomatoes?’ he asked himself – the Boatanic was born!

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