Farms in the City - Food Chain Radio #579

Every week Michael Olson produces a segment of his news-talk radio show called ‘The Food Chain’, which can be heard as a podcast. Michael is the author of the award-winning book MetroFarm, a 576-page guide to metropolitan agriculture.

This week, in his 579th show named “Farms in the City”, Michael talks with Milwaukee’s Grow Urban, New York City’s Make Brooklyn Bloom, TUAN’s Jac Smit, and urban livestock guru Jennifer Blecha. “Six decades ago, farms began leaving the city for greener pastures.

Today they are returning. This leads us to ask: ‘Can farms and cities prosper together?’ Topics include reasons why farms locate in or near a city; why cities tolerate the growth of crops in their midst; and whether farms and cities can indeed prosper together.”

Link here directly to ‘Farms in the City’ radio show.

From Michael’s introduction to this show….

“Throughout history, cities and farms prospered in a marriage of convenience: Cities had money and farms had food. But after World War II, cities discovered cheap food in plastic packages, and farms discovered the greener pastures of the distant country. And so cities and farms were divorced.

“The post-war years became a period of great prosperity for both city and farm. Freed from the constraints of having to feed itself, the city burst forth into surrounding farmland with fast tracts of suburbs. The farm, newly armed with technologies of war and abundant supplies of petroleum, and unfettered by metropolitan zoning laws, grew massive in a rush to Get big or get out.

“All was good with the divorce of city and farm, but as the distance between the two continued to grow - a distance that now averages 1,500 miles - a few began to feel vulnerable, and a few others grow weary of eating the cheap food in plastic bags.

“To serve the few, farms began returning to the city. Re-establishing the relationship between city and farm was not easy, as each no longer knew the others ways.

“Consequently there was much groping about, as it were, between the two. Gradually they began to know each other again. Today, farmers markets are bringing life back to the urban core of many cities. Will this relationship continue to grow until that traditional marriage of convenience is re-established? Can farms and cities prosper together?

MetroFarm - The online magazine of Metropolitan Agriculture.

MetroFarm - the book.