Topic
The big growth potential of urban agriculture.
It was 2003 when Jason O'Brien got sick of watching binners and crows rip through the large blue garbage container in the vacant lot outside his kitchen window -- the vacant lot underneath the SkyTrain on Commercial Drive. It couldn't be used for either residential or commercial space, but O'Brien had bigger outcomes in mind for the aesthetically displeasing piece of land anyway.
Imagine if he could turn his backyard mess into a rehabilitation centre, a mechanism to reduce crime, promote community, give recreational space and produce food?
It may sound like a lofty goal, but anyone familiar with community gardens will mention the above benefits. Hence MOBY was born. MOBY, an acronym for "My Own Back Yard," is one of the newest community gardens in Vancouver.
Community gardens like MOBY are primarily hobbies here in Vancouver, but internationally they are known for their ability to feed entire cities. This form of inner city food production is known as urban agriculture, a widely discussed topic at the recently held 2006 World Urban Forum in Vancouver.
No veggies in the city
The term urban agriculture is relatively new, as is the acceptance of urban agriculture as a viable form of sustainable food practice in the city. As few as 20 years ago, putting the words urban and agriculture together would have been unheard of. In the past, urban agriculture has been viewed by governments as a form of squatting in which people used land that they had "no right" to be on in order to obtain some form of food security.
But food shortage crises and rising concerns about declining oil supplies have begun to give urban agriculture some legitimacy in the eyes of municipalities all over the globe. The David Suzuki Foundation estimates that much of our food travels over 2,400 kilometres just to get to our dinner table. What's even more astounding is that the production of the food needed to feed a family of four, including packaging and distribution, releases up to eight tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Add to that the current migration of the world's population to cities -- with nearly 50 per cent of people in the world living in urban environments -- and urban food security becomes a huge issue.
The city -- our beautiful construct of industry, services and the arts -- must be reconceptualized. Where it was previously a place where citizens could live entire lives without realizing that food comes from somewhere other than a grocery store, it must become a place where we integrate agricultural knowledge and urban life.
Urban dirt
Urban agriculture encompasses production, processing, and marketing, not only of vegetables, but of eggs, meat, flowers and dairy products as well. It was estimated by the United Nations Development Agency in 1996 that 15 to 20 per cent of the food produced in the world is produced by some 800 million urban and peri-urban farmers and gardeners.
Many cities in the world have already taken the plunge and are accepting and promoting urban agriculture. Cities like Havana, Cuba; Kampala, Uganda; and Rosario, Argentina have done so in response to desperate food shortages, which forced them into accepting innovative ways of managing food needs. Due to such a food crisis following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Havana, Cuba, has become a fully self-sustaining city.
Before 1991, Cuba had been importing as much as 50 per cent of its food from Eastern Europe under special trade agreements. The documentary Seeds in the City: The Greening of Havana explains that Havana also had a gasoline shortage, which kept trucks from importing food from rural Cuba into the cities. This combination of events left Cuba with a dire food shortage.
In response to the food shortage, Cubans began to grow their own food within cities, despite strict laws against urban agriculture in places like Havana. Spaces such as rooftops, balconies and vacant lots were used for food production. The government soon warmed up to the idea, and grants of land were made to any person who promised to grow food on it. Markets were opened and urban food production not only helped to feed citizens, it eventually became profitable for urban farmers.
Follow Havana
Havana has set an example for the success of other cities wishing to adopt formalized versions of urban agriculture. John Ssebaana Kizito, former mayor of the city of Kampala in Uganda, boasted of urban agriculture's success in his city at the World Urban Forum.
Kampala farmers not only provide fruits and vegetables, they also supply 70 per cent of the poultry products consumed in the city. In addition to food security, agriculture in the city of Kampala has opened up new job opportunities for people migrating to the urban setting.
Back in Vancouver, a wealthy global city in the first world, we are also recognizing the benefits of urban agriculture. The city of Vancouver has recently set a goal to increase the number of community gardens in the city from 900 to 3,000 by the year 2010. Or, as they say, increase the gardens to 2,010 by 2010.
It's clear, however, that Vancouver is not in a state of food crisis. In fact, with the Agricultural Land Reserve so close to and even covering some of Vancouver's urban centre, practices such as urban agriculture can seem almost redundant. So why are we taking steps towards increasing the amount of urban agriculture in our city?
Food stress
"We currently have a sufficient amount of food," explained Herb Barbolet, food consultant for the local organization Farm Folk/City Folk. Despite this, we have reason to increase urban agriculture now. "Obviously, with population pressures, this is going to get more and more problematic," said Barbolet. "With globalization of the food system [the capacity to obtain food] it's only going to get worse."
While we may not be out to produce enough food to take up a substantial portion of our Vancouverite diet, urban agriculture and community gardening have a number of other benefits. Despite decades of neglected agriculture and materialism amongst urban dwellers, awareness about food security is raising rapidly in the city.
"A lot of young people are very smart with issues of food security," said Barbolet.
Strathcona Community Garden, located in Vancouver near Clark and Venables, began for reasons of food security. "The people who did the backbreaking work to start [the Strathcona] garden were from the hotels in the Lower Eastside," said Muggs, an organizer of the Strathcona Community Garden, referring to the garden's inception in 1985. Since then, it has become a diverse and eclectic garden with 290 plots, 200 fruit trees and beehives that produce up to 5,000 pounds of honey in a year.
Social growth
Despite the initial intent of food production, the Strathcona Community Garden is now more concerned with fulfilling a desire to cultivate social and educational benefits, such as greening the city, health, exercise, recreation, increased community and increased safety in neighbourhoods.
For people concerned with the high prices related to organic food, growing their own food is sometimes a viable option -- that is, if they're prepared for the year-round TLC a garden needs. For those willing to take up a new hobby though, gardening may be just the ticket.
"We have people who don't even have a plot who come down to join the work party," explained Muggs, referencing Strathcona's monthly work parties in which 40 to 60 gardeners come together to help manage the gardens and orchards. The community aspect of the gardens is an appealing draw to all its members. O'Brien has already noticed the social benefits of the newly formed MOBY. Although the garden members are primarily people he invited from his community, there are many people under 30, most of whom are socially and politically conscious. He dreams of the space being a place that is aware, political and sexy.
The benefits of community extend beyond just socializing with one another. Making eye contact, chatting and knowing your neighbours increases security and reduces crime in neighbourhoods because people begin to look out for one another and respect each other. The cleaning and greening of previously vacant space reduces crime because managed land is more respected -- by people of all social classes -- than desolate wasteland.
The garden project has become something that O'Brien has become deeply invested in. Members of MOBY are planning to compile a web site with resources for starting gardens as well as initiate a network of gardens across the city, allowing gardeners to share knowledge and experiences beyond their own plots of land.
An increase in urban agriculture in Vancouver is good, if only for disaster mitigation. While even 3,000 community gardens is a far cry from cities like Berlin, Germany -- which has around 80,000 gardens -- the head start Vancouverites are getting on potential food shortages is important.
Urban agriculture in the developed world serves a different purpose than that of developing countries. Rather than needing it for food production, we desire it for community development and disaster mitigation. Nevertheless, the importance of understanding how food is cultivated and linking urban lifestyles with agricultural knowledge will lead to increasingly sustainable cities. Ideally, the understanding of gardening on a basic level will help us to determine more efficient ways to use the land, our waste and our resources in the future.
Amanda McCuaig has been an editor at Simon Fraser University's student newspaper The Peak for the past two years. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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Sumac
6 years ago
Comments on "Social Fertilizer"
In support of this article, I feel it's about time we change our thinking on food production and distribution, but tell that to the likes of Richmond's Mayor. This morning he whined in an interview on CBC radio about how the ALR turned down the City's proposal to remove land from the ALR for non-agricultural development.
It's time to get back to integrating food production - particularly vegetables and fruits - into our neighbourhoods once again.
If you talk to "old timers", they'll tell you that's how it was back in the first half of the 20th century.
BC Mary
6 years ago
It'll be informative to watch what's revealed when Basi, Duncan, and Young go to trial on charges of bribery regarding the removal of agricultural land from the A.L.R. in Sooke ... land upon which a large housing development is already half completed.
Does anybody know if the Sooke development is continuing? Or does the pending trial put an automatic freeze on the land?
Chris Bouris
6 years ago
Community gardens are a vital element to the creation of liveable cities.
I feel that planners, developers and architects have a core responsibility for the promotion of urban agricultural oppotunities in their development policies and building proposals.
If we are asking people to live within smaller accomodations and within a smaller footprint - and with no on-property landscape, once provided by a yard - we must create community gardens to permit people to truly connect intimately with their environment. Such practice will futher encourage care and respect of the landscape, promote a genuine sense of community - and perhaps encourage the citizenry not to try to "flee the city", at every opportunity in order to "get away" to some natural experience to replenish their spirits.
Secondly, the practice of building dead zone rooftops must cease.
Rigidly victorian design guidelines do not best promote environmentally and socially sustaining houses.
Minicipal design guidelines need to evolve to promote a living use of the top of the house / building.
There must be clear, compelling incentives for developers to build genuinely usuable roof spaces. And more expensive dis-incentives for them not to. Ours is not a city situated in the swiss alps - we have negligebable snow loads here for all intents and purposes, so we certainly do not need steep pitched roofs to shed snow. Whistler is another story.
Full or partial flat roofs can support multiple benevolent responses - including renewable energy systems (for instance solar hot water systems, as well as solar electric cells known as photo voltaics, or "PV" )..coupled with, roof gardening even in small (and larger) containers and planters - if containers are situated near the permiter of the structure vastly diminishing any need of greater load bearing capacity of the roof structure as might otherwise be required with some heavier "full" green roofs (though not all green roofs need be heavy).
Picture how it might look viewing flowers, bushes or vegetable plants on the top of a house, just inside of - or part of - a roof deck railing. Maybe one of the reasons people sometimes dont look up - is becasue there's only black shingles to see..
Additionally, I sincerely do not know of anyone who doesn't enjoy the idea of being on a roof deck - which is, for one - a meaningfull and very intimate connection to the sky. This coupled with even the most modest container roof gardens near the permiter of the structure would be an excellent response to a low footprint development proposal - and far closer to the genuine article when using in-vogue terms like "eco-density".
As a closing detail, wrapping to whatever extent the building exterior in easy to implement floral trellising with appropriate, easy to maintain climbing flora - like (berry producing) honeysuckle vines as but one for-instance, for polinators (bees) and songbirds..and further, to effect a reduction of greenhouse gases - could further enhance the living quality of most new development proposals (and retrofits).
A home need not be but a shield from the elements, but a basis upon which to create and replenish a city.
Coyote
6 years ago
I agree with Sumac. It's time to get back to self-reliance and at least reduced dependence upon large corporations in all spheres of the economy, for individuals and the nation, including food production and the other sustenance needs of "the people".
In my "old timer" youth :-), certainly in my working class neighbourhood after the old man gave up farming and moved into the "big city", everyone grew huge gardens that took up the entire back yard. My old man, for example, was an outstanding gardener, which ability I'm sure he got from his mother-. an outstanding woman in all the domestic arts, including gardening. I mean, until well after the Second War, I'm sure none of his cars ever saw the inside of a commercial garage-, all the work on them, from minor to major, he did himself.
With the post-war "prosperity period" however, all that changed as business and folks become obsessively preoccupied with the almighty dollar, women went more and more to work, and nobody simply had any time or energy left anymore. Enter Safeways, big commercial food production operations, the decline in the quality of social and family life, including the demise of family gardens. The care of children as well, while they all, like the adults, got and became more and more preoccupied with "stuff", likewise suffered. Which is not to blame anybody, but simply point to a reality which occurred, from which we continue to suffer the consequence of, in the form of often mouthy spoiled, delinquent and fat kids, as one more example. In my view.
And I ain't one that can really talk either, in many regards, though my kids were certainly far from spoiled or ever had too much, for I was always too damned poor myself and a probably over-strict, if anything, father. But I always wanted to garden myself, but just never seemed to have the time to get at it. And that's too bad, because its one of those essential "self-sufficiency" skills, like cooking or being able to do one's own monkey wrenching and plumbing fixes, we probably should all have, to reduce our dependency on these outside, profiteering and dehumanizing, business-corporate forces.
For the excessive specialization that evolved along with the growth of the big corporations of capitalism, while it may have brought some economies of scale efficiencies, and even that is dubious in my opinion, did while dazzling the populace with more "stuff", unquestionably reduce the "quality of life" for ordinary folks, in many important and regrettable regards. (And most of those "economies of scale" wound up on corporate bottom lines and in the lifestyles of the rich and famous anyway. For equality has never really been one of the hallmarks inherent to capitalism. That always had to be fought for.
In my view.
All of which has to change, in order to "liberate" people, so that they can again get back to the greater self-reliance of individuals and communities that is at the heart of a desirable "quality of life".
Urban gardening?
A step in backwards, in this case, in the right direction.
Moat
6 years ago
But to get this this "utopia", we need to take small steps first in order to change attitudes.
At the moment, we have people paving over their whole[/I] front and backyards in Burnaby. We still have a lot of lawn worship going on as well.
But, I we could convince the city to plant fruit trees in open spaces or in vacant lots, and then let people know that the fruit are there for consumption, we may change our attitudes towards productive land. Heck, even give tax subsidies for those who put their backyards into production or who plant native trees.
But at the moment, we are a long way from that as yards are paved and trees are cut.
anarcho
6 years ago
One thing I have noticed in my wanderings is that about half the yards are not used for anything more than parking an RV or having an occasional BBQ. I don't mean the yards with 3 feet of grass and several old car bodies. No they keep the lawn cut. Bu there is no obvious interest in having a yard - no fruit trees - and if there are - the fruit rots on the ground, a few wretched perennials, no veggies. So why do they have yards in the first place? Maybe a tax break for backyard production is a good idea.
Bailey
6 years ago
The Interview with Richmond was interesting. Apparently there's 50 hectares in the middle of town in the ALR, and they can't get it out.
Remarkable, considering that grabbing ALR land for private profit in Richmond was one of the scandals that got the Socreds turfed out.
However, there's some talk about Kwantlen College setting up some kind of Urban Ag project on it. That would be absolutely perfect, wouldn't it? Pristine rich delta soil in a city. They could host world class studies and pilot projects and research projects galore on the subject. And it certainly is a subject whose time, if it hasn't come yet, is not far off.
How many cities have so much pristine land dedicated to agriculture right in town available for such a purpose. What an opportunity to take a leadership position in a vital emerging field.
Plus, of course, BC is already a world leader in indoor urban agriculture. And we grow tomatoes too. The expertise available hereabouts is a resource that it would be a crime to waste.
alive
6 years ago
Interesting to note, that if you read Tyee long enough , the same topics appear again as if never discussed before!
Shall we see any new input this time around?
Moat
6 years ago
alive wrote,
Not really that interesting. I think the goal is the repeat the message enough so that it starts getting through. Until a significant amount of people decide to get to the "next step", the stories will continue to cycle.
It is just nice that the Tyee's "stock" stories are different than those found on the Canwest global network.
maestro
6 years ago
Ah...Reminiscing.
We said goodbye to the last true family backyard garden a couple of years ago.
As a kid, almost everyone had backyard gardens....rapsberries and strawberries, cheeries, grew pumpkins for Hallowe-en...
Uncle in Marpole was a hobby bee- keeper,and made great honey,...
My In -laws were more into vegetables. The garden used to be about 2-300 sq. ft.in size.... corn, onions, beets, zucchini,etc. As they got older, the garden shrunk... they sold the city homestead and now live in a condo.
Interesting societal transition.
Many of them grew up in the Depression. Still recall houses built in the war years (pre 1950's)with many fruit trees in the back yard, even in Vancouver.
Trying an urban garden may give one a microcosm perspective of food production and the work and risk (Mother Nature) involved.
Seems nowadays, in general, fewer and fewer have the time nor the interest. However, good on ya if you do pursue Urban Farming, and hope that those of you who do pursue it enjoy the fruits(and vegetables ) of your labours.
alive
6 years ago
.
So sorry,here i figured that Tyee readers were not your typical consumers who need to hear things 3 times, sorry!
Moat
6 years ago
alive wrote,
Hmmmm, so you are saying that the Tyee should stop writing about "Global Warming", just because it has been in the news too often?
Maybe Raif got booted from CKNW partly because listeners were sick of hearing about fish farms. However, why should he stop discussing the issue just because he does not want to follow the flavor of the month.
Heck, I even learned that maestro has a soft stop for greeness from the above post.
Every perspective offeres something new -even if it is about the same subject.
alive
6 years ago
I totally agree, my concern is that here on Tyee the posts are a little too predictable!
Seems everything winds up about left v/s right and the contributors seem to cut and paste from previous discussions on the issue.
Maybe I should be screaming for new blood in here?
Moat
6 years ago
alive wrote
Fair comment. It turns into a left vs. right discussion everytime because there are a few that continue just to come on here just to antagonize the "lefties".
There are a few very right of center posters here that can hold there own, and really add to the discussion and provide balance, but there are far and few between.
I myself have been accused of being pro-right development!
We need to look for common ground first, and then discuss the differences.
Bailey
6 years ago
New blood? Wouldn't help. Didn't you read the story?
You need new sap.