Essentially,
this course is a course about urban and peri-urban food production.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
defines peri-urban agriculture as "agriculture practices within
and around cities which compete for resources (land, water, energy,
labor) that could also serve other purposes to satisfy the
requirements of the urban population." The FAO is an excellent
source for data and publications for research. The data urban and
peri-urban farmers/gardeners need is either not produced in the the
United States, or, when produced is frequently no more than an
advertisement for chemical fertilizer and chemical weed mitigation.
The
FAO, in “Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture” The
challenge of supplying nutritionally adequate and safe food to city
dwellers is substantial. Accomplishing this task under conditions of
growth and congestion demands that policy-makers seize opportunities
for integrating resource management and planning efforts,
understanding potential linkages between rural and urban areas, and
anticipating the changing needs of a country's citizens - both rural
and urban. Part of the reason for the observed growth in UPA is due
to its adaptability and mobility compared with rural agriculture. As
cities expand physically, the frontiers between urban, peri-urban and
rural activity blur and merge, presenting opportunities for
beneficial linkages.
These
gardens/agriculture land, in the peri-urban setting are often in
competition for other projects as bits and pieces of open land, not
already in use, comprise a diminishing percentage of the urban
landscape. Peri-urban land, falls in the continuum between rural and
urban, having varying similarities and differences along that
continuum.
Peri-urban
is that agricultural production that is closest to urban centers and
more distant from rural tracts. While offering the chance to eat
fresh vegetables and fruits, it is more difficult to grow and without
the cooperation of the community around the growing area, can make
growing healthy food impossible. Yet, the lure of having locally
produced vegetables and fruit offers many advantages to the urban
population in terms of taste and nutrition by virtue of the freshness
of the produce.
Peri-urban
gardening may be complimented with chickens and their eggs or goats
and their milk, but the introduction of animals into the urban
landscape can often bring a host of problems that are not found in a
plant based operation. One of the biggest challenges in the coming
years will be how can we grow sufficient amounts of food for the
central city at a price that is affordable and yet high enough to
support the farmer and the farmer's family. The face of a
gardener/farmer, worldwide, is the face of a woman, so these
questions are formed knowing that wage discrimination against women
workers has been a constant problem in our culture and will need to
be addressed as our food production changes in the coming years.
The
concept of the peri-urban garden – and the urban garden, though at
a more limited level – can only prove to be beneficial if these
issues are confronted and solved:
- Water supplies are not contaminated by the urban/peri-urban farms, especially, but not limited to, those growing animals in addition to vegetables and fruit.
- Remediation of water supplies on site to clean the water to certifiable standards.
- Air quality is not compromised by dust or smell.
- Garden waste remains on site to be composted.
- Gardens take in plant waste for composting.
- Gardeners learn how to deal with vermin in a socially accepted manner or a wholesale change in society's concept of acceptable vermin damage.
- Inner city gardens might make a better contribution by growing mushrooms.
- Food will be fresher allowing for more nutrition and food security providing producers keep food properly until sold, by observing sanitation best practices. If not followed, the close proximity of people, animals and microbial presence will make this much more of a challenge in the future.
- Farmers are allowed to have multi-year leases – or, better yet, ownership – of the land they farm on, giving them the impetus to keep the garden clean from diseases and infestations.
The
inner city, with skyscrapers, presents the most challenge for
farmers. As one moves towards the outer city, with fewer floors
between the garden and the sun, growing food generally becomes
easier. It is probably not a stretch to assume that, as one moves
further and further from the central city that gardens can be more
productive – however, one can also speculate that the further you
get from city center, the number of buyers close at hand diminishes
as well.
Farmers
already are producing and selling their goods along this line. They
harvest their products for sale and spend Wednesdays or some other
day at a farmers' market, direct selling their goods to consumers. Of
course this is out in the urban, if not rural lands. These farmers'
markets are the start of this decentralization of our food production
and have proven successful and desirable for consumers and cities
alike.
All
these farms, from the urban and peri-urban areas are more likely to
be smaller than the farms we have today while production levels must
remain constant or increase. In addition, these farms, will
specialize in certain products and diversify the goods they bring to
market. Like
- Aquaculture – growing fish for market, using their waste for fertilizer for vegetables etc.
- Urban beekeeping, supplementing honey, wax and pollination services.
- and mycology – growing mushrooms which will be in a greater demand as science shows us all the benefits of different varities.
While
our food supply will strain to provide enough calories for the
populace at the same time it will provide a variety of foods that are
uncommon today. Farmers all along the continuum will strive to find
products they can feature and draw in customers in addition to the
common products easily found in the market.
The
positive effects that can be gained from an urban and/or peri-urban
food supply include the following:
- providing green spaces throughout the city, even to the inner downtown city
- green space preservation will also enhance carbon sequestration – all food production done correctly sequesters carbon
- reduce the heat island effect that is common in our cities already
- recycling of gray water conserving water and reduce waste
At the
same time, unwanted inputs will need to be dealt with, including:
- chemical and physical of roadway exhaust
- heavy metal residues
- soil and water pollution including industrial chemicals, antibiotics and heavy-metals. Among others.
Obviously,
inner city farmers, more than others, will be faced with a variety of
waste material that is not common today. All waste products that can
be safely used in composting and other natural breakdown of material,
will be in abundance, however, the same can be said about materials
we don't want which may be just as ubiquitous.
In
addition to those growers striving to make an income, there will be
average citizens that will still wish to grow there own. From the
1890's growing some of your own food in the city has been a part of
the American life style. The modest beginning in 1890's, in the wake
of the 1890's Depression that a formal community garden emerged,
native to the United States. It was in Detroit, using vacant lots,
the city government gave the laid off workers a chance to feed their
families.
In
that same era, in the 1890's, community gardens were created in San
Francisco and Boston – both still active gardening cities to this
date. New York had its first gardens in the early 1900's. And it too
has remained a gardening city!
In
World War 1, at the behest of the Wilson administration, Americans
began to build their “Liberty Gardens” using their front lawns
and other unused land to grow a 24% share of the food grown in the
US, creating a tradition of growing your own food close to home. The
term "community garden" came into use to describe
collectively grown gardens and gardens with individual plots during
World War I. The
gardens opened the idea of city gardens/community gardens and the
concept has been a part of the woof and warp of American life since
that time.
The
Roosevelt administration in WW2 wanted the food growing to stay in
the hands of professionals and discouraged amateurs from planting
their “Victory Gardens.” The populace would not have it and went
about putting in driveway gardens, front yard gardens and parkway
gardens and finally the Roosevelt administration succumbed and thew
in with the people and Victory Gardens became a part of the American
legend of the World Wars. These gardens were successful in producing
healthy food for consumption for the folks at home – freeing up the
traditional supplies of vegetables for shipping to the front. By May
1943 (we didn't go to war until December 1942), there were 18 million
gardens producing food, which, along with rationing, allowed the US
to ship food out to the war zones where many farms had been destroyed
by bombing or other acts of war removing the farmers from the war
zone and eliminating their ability to feed the populations in the
conflict zone.
These
Victory Gardens were a step towards urban gardens. Harking back to
the community plots of 1890s, cities began to look for unused land to
allow citizens to grow their own food for a nominal rental fee that
paid for water use and sometimes fencing. Los Angeles has something
more than 90 active community gardens, most started during the
administration of Mayor Tom Bradley, showcasing LA's
diverse cultures and culinary traditions.
Los
Angeles' demand for community gardens has far outpaced the demand. In
the 1980's, when I got my first community garden, the wait list was
about two weeks and they gave me 4 plots to work in! Nowadays, I
hear of people waiting years for a plot.
In the
community gardens in Los Angeles, you pay an annual fee and are
required to do a set number of community work hours in the garden.
When I got my first plot in Ocean View Farms, plots were about 14
feet square and laid out on a slope facing the ocean, which is a few
miles away, providing full sun exposure to almost all the plots. In
conjunction with the Master Gardener program, UC Davis has written a
beginning gardener's curriculum which is taught multiple times all
over the LA Area – I teach two per year
(Spring and Fall) for a nominal fee, to get people off on the right
start in the community garden experience.
david
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