Category — Planning

60 concerned citizens rewrite the definition of an Urban Farm in Austin

By Dustin
East Side Compost Pedallers
05/09/2013

Excerpt:

In order for a property to be recognized by the city as an urban farm, it needs to meet the criteria set by the urban farm code. That makes sense. But what is so great about getting a certificate of occupancy as urban farm anyway? Couldn’t you just start growing food and forget about the title? It turns out that there are a number of benefits that come along with being recognized by the city as an urban farm.

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Harvesting Parsnips and Carrots, from ‘Tacuinum Sanitatis’.

The global Home Grown Network could be designed as a non-governmental, membership-based organization devoted to supporting household food production.

By George Kent
University of Hawai’i
kent@hawaii.edu
(Draft of October 12, 2012)
Get the complete proposal here.
George Kent is Professor Emeritus with the University of Hawai’i. He was a professor in the Department of Political Science from 1970 until his retirement at the end of 2010.

Excerpt from the proposal:

The Home Grown Network (HGN) proposed here is intended to serve as a global Internet-based service to support individuals and groups in facilitating the production of food at home, primarily for consumption rather than for sale. Information and ideas would be exchanged about how to produce food, and how to choose foods that would offer good nutritional and economic value. The network would provide access to relevant documents and videos that are now scattered throughout the world. It would also help in making connections to supportive people with similar interests. These linkages would help to build local face-to-face communities of people who would share information and ideas about household food production in ways that are appropriate in their local situation.

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See complete image here.

Design Trust put together a metrics framework that measured the associated activities of urban agriculture with the known benefits derived from various studies.

By Kyle Rogler
Sustainable Cities Collective
March 27, 2013

Excerpt:

Transforming underutilized land into productive urban farms was one of the many topics which were presented at the recent Kansas City Design Week. Jerome Chou, past Director of Programs at the Design Trust for Public Space, presented his unique experience with the implementation of the Five Boroughs Farm in New York City and the impact that urban agriculture can have on low-income areas of a city.

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Youngsters at Catwg Primary School in Neath, Wales

Community Supported Agriculture [CSA], community gardens, allotment gardening and activities relating to communal food growing in schools

Excerpts from the Report

In 2010 the Welsh Government commissioned the Wales Rural Observatory to undertake a review to identify what could be done to promote and encourage ‘Community Growing’ in Wales. This research report provides an in-depth examination of current activities relating to the production and distribution of ‘community grown food’ in Wales, focusing specifically on four areas of activity, namely Community Supported Agriculture [CSA], community gardens, allotment gardening and activities relating to communal food growing in schools. As well as highlighting existing best practice, the research sought to identify existing barriers to the adoption of community grown food activities, drawing on detailed analyses of interview and survey data.

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Food deserts mapped from coast to coast, plus Alaska and Hawaii.

By Nancy Shute
NPR
March 13, 2013

Excerpt:

Want to know where you can’t buy fresh, healthful food? The USDA has the map for you.

The feds’ new Food Access Research Atlas lets you find out just where it’s difficult to buy broccoli or bananas in counties across the U.S. Forget walking to the store in St. Louis, Minn., where most people live more than a mile from a grocery store. Ditto for Hyde, N.C., and Pushmataha, Okla.

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Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Awards

By Federica Marra
Manna from our roof
Leiden University, The Netherlands

Abstract:

In response to urbanized spaces’ alienation from food production and its ecological, recreational and economic values, it is necessary to reconceptualise the cities from the key viewpoint of sustainability and to educate its citizens about a new ecology of food. The manna FromOurRoof project will engage young people across the OECD countries in an international network of activities combining education, communication and business: participants will actively take part in cultivation, preservation, cooking and sale of local food products. By the means of roof gardens, window farms and edible walls, the facilities they will be working in will be providing the urban community with fresh and local produce, while taking care of their own energy supply, water and waste.

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“The cold hard fact is that nowhere in the United States are there any self-sustaining profitable urban farms void of subsidy from philanthropic or corporate entities.”

By unblightenvironmental
March 2013

Excerpt:

The sober reality is that most urban agriculture projects are underfunded, understaffed, and confronted with difficult management challenges. Urban agriculture is not seen as the “highest and best use” of vacant land by most local government policy officials who would like to attract “better” tax paying uses on this land. The conventional view is that food production is something that takes place and belongs on rural land and requires a lot of it to create a profitable enterprise.

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The Big Nickel and Dynamic Earth, at the western entrance to Sudbury, in Northern Ontario, is a major tourist attraction. Photo by by Sharon Drummond.

Ideas for Sudbury backyards include community gardens, greenhouses, chicken coops.

CBC
March 5, 2013

Excerpt:

City planners are suggesting that Greater Sudbury should grow more of its food in urban areas — including allowing backyard chicken coops.

It is just an idea at this point — and something many other cities are considering — but city Coun. André Rivest said right now his vote would be a no.

“You got houses that are worth a lot of dollars and you want to keep that,” he said.

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Survey of organizations and businesses across the US and Canada

Nathan McClintock, PhD
Assistant Professor, Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning
Portland State University

Urban agriculture is growing rapidly throughout North America, and we are interested to learn about the experiences of the organizations involved, as well as any obstacles they face. Municipalities have begun to craft new policies and regulations related to urban agriculture, and we hope that the information obtained from this study will help guide city planners and policymakers as they develop policies and programs that effectively meet the needs of practitioners.

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Urban And Peri-Urban Agriculture And Short Food Chains: Lessons From The South

By Marielle Dubbeling
Director RUAF Foundation
March 2013

The SUPURBFOOD project (www.supurbfood.eu) is looking to identify experiences from the global South and North with recycling of nutrients, waste and water in urban and peri-urban agriculture, short chain delivery of food in urban and peri-urban areas, and multifunctional agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas in order to enrich South-North exchange and collaboration. We are specifically interested in innovative experiences – with a special focus on the type of business models that were applied, the role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and their sustainability.

The RUAF Foundation (www.ruaf.org), one of the partners of the SUPURBFOOD project, is now inviting researchers, local authorities, urban planners, SMEs, producers, NGOs, staff from international organisations and other stakeholders to contribute on an electronic Forum discussion to this inventory and analysis by sharing relevant cases, interesting best practices (and failures) and new insights. This Forum discussion will focus on three main thematic areas:

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Photo by Hella Delicious.

Condos vs Cottonwood Community Garden – Vancouver’s City hall’s viaduct removal plan could accelerate gentrification and hit Downtown Eastside’s green space and food system

By Peter Driftmier
Megaphone
Feb 26, 2013

Excerpt:

While many community gardens have a visibly white and middle-class dominated constituency, multiracial working-class and low-income gardeners are among the community gardening movement’s active long-term membership, especially in the greater Downtown Eastside. Indeed, community gardening can be a vital survival strategy for low-income people.

With the $610 per month for an ‘expected-to-work’ adult’s social assistance payment, that leaves little for food after shelter, transit, clothes and a phone for finding work. This leaves a maximum $26 per week that the government says should be left for food after these minimum expenses. That is less than half the conservative amount deemed necessary by the Dietitians of Canada in order for an adult to sustain a basic healthful diet.

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A national outreach and technical assistance program will be developed based on the results of this research.

Carolyn Dimitri, Associate Professor, New York University
Lydia Oberholtzer, Senior Researcher, The Pennsylvania State University
Andy Pressman, Agriculture Specialist, National Center for Appropriate Technology

We are currently looking for farmers in or around urban areas [in the US] to take part in a national study (through a survey) being led by New York University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the National Center for Appropriate Technology.

The study seeks to examine the state of urban and peri-urban farming in the United States, including the: (1) technical assistance and information needs on the part of urban farms that can be met through outreach programs; (2) production, management, and marketing risks for urban farms and the development of programs to address those risks; and (3) increased awareness on the part of policymakers and communities of the benefits of urban farming. A national outreach and technical assistance program will be developed based on the results of this research.

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The Community Supported Agriculture model means that community residents would have access to fresh food grown right in their own “backyard.” Photo by Mark Cullen.

In Burlington, Vermont, more than 8 per cent the food consumed by residents is grown within the city limits.

By Mark Cullen
The Star
Feb 01 2013

Excerpt:

Indulge me for a moment and imagine a new residential development of quality homes surrounding an 18-hole, championship golf course. A well-designed community of semis, towns and fully detached homes are knit together by winding, well-treed streets. Every garage has a golf cart in it and every golf cart has two large garden trugs in the back.

Say what? OK, change that golf course to a farm. And not just any old farm, the latest “urban” farm, where half of the green space normally devoted to the golf course is a huge garden that produces food for the immediate community. Fresh greens and produce are sold to local green grocers and restaurants. People travel long distances to see this place. And local residents only travel a few blocks to pick up their groceries, fresh from the land.

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Kent Mullinix, Director Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security at the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, looks over some under used land in Richmond on Wednesday. Photo by Ian Lindsay.

More crops, better processing would keep billions of food dollars in the Vancouver Lower Mainland says researcher

By Randy Shore
Vancouver Sun
Jan 31, 2013

Excerpt:

“If the available underutilized ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) land was put to use in these small-scale, human-intensive farm operations, they could satisfy Surrey’s demand for 24 commonly consumed crops and animal products, create almost 2,500 jobs, and contribute over $173 million in gross receipts to Surrey’s agriculture sector, more than doubling the current size of the industry in Surrey,” the Kwantlen report states.

It was commissioned by Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts to estimate the economic potential of fallow land. City staff have been creating a strategy based on that document. It will come to council in the next few weeks, she said.

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Growing Success: The impact of Capital Growth on community food growing in London

News Release
30th January

Growing Success, a new report out today reveals the huge and positive impact of the Capital Growth programme over the last four years. The programme, funded by the Mayor of London and the Big Lottery, and run by London Food Link has helped get around 99,000 people growing on 2,012 new community food gardens, with 82% in the more deprived parts of London.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who wrote a foreword for the report, said:

‘Capital Growth has proven to be an astonishing success which has unlocked a primal love of gardening in city dwellers. The scheme has been especially successful not just in the leafy suburbs, but in the more deprived inner London areas where gardening has brought people into contact with neighbours often for the very first time. London is now an acknowledged world leader in urban agriculture with Capital Growth showing that bringing people together to make a physical investment in the soil, reaps environmental, social, educational and even economic dividends.’

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While the amendment is likely to please urban agriculture advocates, it may not go far enough for some.

By Jared Brey
Plan Philly
Jan 22, 2013

Excerpt:

It appears that community gardens and farms will continue to be permitted by right in neighborhood commercial corridors, as the new zoning code intended.

Councilman Brian O’Neill, who introduced a bill last fall which would have restricted community gardens and dozens of other uses in CMX-2 and CMX-2.5 zoning districts, agreed on Wednesday to remove the Special Exception requirement for urban agriculture uses from the bill, according to an internal email obtained by PlanPhilly. O’Neill wrote:

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Planning for the Business of Growing Food in BC’s Towns and Cities

By HB Lanarc – Golder
Janine de la Salle, Joanna Clark
2013, 55 pages
Complete Report on-line.

The Urban Farming Guidebook is written to help planners, engineers, and administrators from small and large communities to gain a better understanding of the potential, pitfalls, and best practices for growing, potentially raising, and selling food within town boundaries. Strategies and approaches outlined in the Guidebook provide local governments with tools to proactively plan for urban farming. This resource has been developed in collaboration and consultation with urban farmers, municipal staff, academics, and advocates.

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Illustration by Melanie Matthews.

Strategies could include adjustment of production systems, cropping patterns, selection of adapted crop varieties, diversification of cropping and/or farming systems, improved water management, using bio- and solid waste and rezoning for urban agriculture.

By Ir. Marielle Dubbeling
Director
RUAF-Foundation (International network of Resource centres on Urban Agriculture and Food security)
2013

The current challenges posed by climate change and its interaction with cities, urban poverty and food security are recognized globally. In its 2010 report, the World Bank makes a plea for innovative “outside-the-box” solutions to climate change adaptation and points out that environmentally sustainable solutions for food, water, energy and transport as integrated components of a city climate change adaptation and disaster risk management plan are needed (World Bank, 2010).

Urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry (UPAF) is one of these “outside-the-box” solutions currently being considered. UPAF can play a strong role in enhancing food security for the urban poor, greening the city and improving the urban climate, while stimulating the productive reuse of urban organic wastes and reducing the urban energy footprint. A review of the literature indicates that UPAF helps cities to become more resilient in the following ways:

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‘Edible Britain’ will see community gardening groups create 2,000 edible gardens in public spaces around the country between 7 and 14 April

Royal Horticultural Society
11 January 2013

Excerpt:

Edible Gardens will appear in public spaces across the UK when RHS Britain in Bloom 2013 launches in April. Streets across the UK will be lined with herbs and vegetables for local people to harvest for years to come, thanks to the launch.

‘Edible Britain’ is the theme of Britain in Bloom 2013, which will see community gardening groups create 2,000 edible gardens in public spaces around the country between 7 and 14 April.

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Homegrown fruit and veg back on menu as Britons turn to allotments to save money in struggling economy

By Daily Mail Reporter
30 December 2012

Excerpt:

Families are increasingly turning to homegrown produce as household budgets are squeezed by Britain’s trouble economy and soaring fruit prices.

The share of all fruit and vegetables consumed in the UK which were grown in allotments or gardens went up from 2.9 per cent to 5 per cent between 2008 and 2011, official statistics show, an increase of nearly 70 per cent.

Eggs from home-reared chickens rose from 3.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent.

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