Urban Agriculture:

Growing Food for the Future

Margo Hartenfeld

MPH Candidate: Health Promotion

Image Source Wikimedia Commons

A Look at Food Insecurity

Image Source Wikimedia Commons

Urban areas provide opportunities for diverse populations of people to live and thrive together. According to the 2010 Census, 249,253,271 people live in urban areas in the United States (Bureau, 2021). The United Nations estimates 68% of people across the world will live in urban areas by 2050 (2018). The ability for these populations to access culturally relevant, nutrient-dense foods in urban spaces will impact health outcomes seen in the future.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 states people should consume around two and a half cups of vegetables per day, and two cups of fruits per day; yet around 80% of people consume lower amounts than recommended (2021). Compared to suburban areas, large cities have higher rates of food insecurity, with single-parent households and Black and Latinx households experiencing substantially higher rates of food insecurity (USDA, 2020). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, around 27% of Latinx and Black households experienced food insecurity; twice the rate of their white counterparts at 13.5% (Gamblin & King).

What Happened During COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated food insecure households, and showed the racial and socioeconomic inequities that historically shaped food systems in the United States (Clark et al., 2021, Davenport, 2021, O'Hara & Toussaint, 2021). The pandemic disrupted food supply chains, cleared grocery store shelves, isolated vulnerable populations, and forced essential workers to risk their health and safety (Clark et al., 2021). Learn more about food rescue programs that emerged during COVID-19.

How can urban populations grow the food they need to be healthy and resilient in a changing climate where future pandemics are increasingly likely? The COVID-19 pandemic elucidated the demand for food production in urban areas, where nutrient-dense produce is grown and distributed close to home.

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Soil Contamination

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"Healthy soil makes healthy food" (OHA). Unfortunately, soil contamination might be the greatest threat for growing food in urban areas. When land in increasingly dense urban areas is available to grow food, it is common to find that human behaviors have changed the composition of the soil. Depending on where the land is located, the soil may contain stones, gravel, and building materials (concrete, siding, glass, paint), be contaminated with lead or other toxins and heavy metals, and potentially more susceptible to drought, leading to undesirable conditions to grow food in (Lal, 2020).

Commercial and industrial businesses next to or near vacant land potentially expose the soil to harmful chemicals that travel through the air. The soil can have toxic levels of herbicides, pesticides, and heavy metals like lead, arsenic, and cadmium (Lal, 2020). When people are exposed to these toxins through direct contact and consumption of produce grown in contaminated soil , health problems such as skin rashes, vomiting, and miscarriages can appear within weeks to years after exposure (Platt, 2013). Leafy greens and root vegetables are more likely to have higher amounts of heavy metals in them if grown in contaminated soil, as compared to food grown from flowers, such as tomatoes and zucchini (Grossman, 2016).

The Oregon Health Authority offers insight about how and when to test for heavy metals in the educational handout Healthy Soils: Information about testing your yard or garden. These are important questions to consider before moving forward.

What was the land and neighboring land used for in the past?
Do people come in direct contact with the soil, or is it covered with grass, mulch, or rock?
Do young children under five play in the soil, putting them at increased risk of ingestion?

Soil that has been contaminated can be removed completely and replaced with imported, clean soil. Building raised garden beds and filling them with imported, clean soil is another option, and treating contaminated soil with amendments and fresh compost can also help mitigate this problem (Platt, 2013). "Nutrient-rich soil with a neutral pH decreases the risks of contaminants moving through the food chain and harming people" (OHA, 2017).

Urban Agriculture Methods

“Urban agriculture is an important component of a larger community food system, providing nutrition, green development, economic opportunities, and resilience to the urban environment” (Fricano & Davis, 2020).

"How would you feel if you had no access to healthy food? If every time you walk out your door, you see the ill effects that the present food system has on your neighborhood?" - Ron Finley

"People are capable and filled with hope and potential, they just need the opportunties, and those opportunies need to be built in the enviornment that they come from." - Daron Babcock

Multiple methods of urban agriculture practices exist, with more emerging as challenges arise and new technology is created. The unique needs of individuals and community are considered when planning and implememting these projects. The goal is to serve the local community with an improved ecosystem, increased nutrition, social connection, and physical movement. Urban agriculture can involve growing produce, raising small livestock, creating pollinator-friendly habitats, and more, with the size ranging from a few small containers, to large-scale, multi-acre urban farming.

Image Source PIXNIO

Home Gardens

Home gardens are grown at individual and family households. These gardens most often provide fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs to incease daily nutrient intake, while enhancing biodiversity and the microenvironment (Lal, 2020). Raised beds, in-ground and container gardens are all popular methods of growing produce and pollinator-friendly plants.

When people saw grocery stores cleared out due to panic from COVID-19, the idea of "victory gardens" resurfaced as a way to be self-sufficient and grow food at home. The movement started during WWI, when people were encouraged to grow food anywhere they could. Continuing to gain popularly during WWII, it was estimated that 20 million gardens across the U.S. grew about 40% of the country's fresh produce (Rao, 2020).

Growing Gardens in Portland, Oregon and similar organizations help people start their own garden at home. Even then, people do not have equitable access to land or space to grow food in. This can often be the case in dense urban areas.

Image Source Wikimedia Commons

Community Gardens

Community gardens provide space for growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers, with some having space to raise small livestock. The community garden can be maintained as a group, or divided into individual allotments (Lal, 2020). It is estimated that families in Seattle growing food in a community garden can get 30-40% of their produce needs met through this method, with any excess food donated to food banks or members of the community (Horst et al., 2017).

Some schools have a community garden on campus to teach students about the food system and nutrition. The garden can help provide food for students and volunteers. Grow Portland helps communities and schools start and maintain community gardens.

The American Community Garden Association has 2,100 community gardens listed in their database across the U.S. and Canada (ACGA). This interactive map shows the nearest community gardens. Portland, Oregon has 58 community gardens within city limits.

Image Source Christopher Porter on Flickr

Vertical & Rooftop Gardens

Dense urban environments have led to vertical and rooftop gardens being innovative ways to produce food when access to land is limited. Hydroponic and aquaponic garden production eliminate the risk of exposure to contaminated soil by producing food indoors, commonly seen inside a warehouse or shipping container, using a system where the inputs and outputs are completely controlled by the farmer (Lal, 2020).

In a changing climate where wildfires are increasingly causing hazardous air conditions for outdoor farm workers, moving farm production indoors could help improve the health and safety of employees who traditionally had to work outdoors. As technology advances, more research will be needed to understand the environmental impact of indoor farming when using energy for artificial sunlight sources during production.

Growing plants on the roofs of buildings in urban spaces has environmental health benefits. Learn more about the mitigation of the heat island effect with green roofs.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Photo Source USDA on Flickr

Food travels approximately 1,500 miles in the United States before it becomes a meal. In New York State, it is estimated that more energy is used in transporting produce than in producing crops (Pawlowski, 2018). Reducing the distance fresh produce travels to reach consumers minimizes part of the carbon footprint. Urban agriculture helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions through decreased transportation distance from farm to table, eliminating the need for using energy to store produce at cold temperatures during transporation over long distances (Platt, 2013). Around 11% of farm to retail emissions happen during transportation (Mohareb et al., 2018). Because food is grown locally where people can easily access it when they need it, less produce goes to waste because it doesn't sit for long periods of time. This reduction in wasted food mitigates the amount of methane gas produced from food that ends up in landfills (Mohareb et al., 2018). Learn more about food waste being turned into fuel.

Policy & Planning

Cities across the United States have taken differing approaches to defining urban agriculture. Policies and zoning determine how land is used within the city, with both public and private land being utilized for urban agriculture in ways that are not typical for urban land use. The nutritional needs of city residents, urban density, and resources are considered when advocating for policies that support urban agriculture projects. Individuals and nonprofit organizations make up a majority of the leaders in this movement, and policies are influenced by urban planners, government agencies, and city council members (APA, 2011).

The Chicago Food Policy Action Council is one example of a nonprofit organization who "co-facilitates, advocates, and implements policies that advance food justice & sovereignty in Chicago and across the region" (CFPAC). They created a ten year plan called, A Vision for Food Policy in Chicago, to help the city implement policies that will expand access to land, increase oppportunites for farming and food production, establish regulations for growing and serving food on-site, incentivise rooftop gardens, develop collaborations within the local food system, and increase afforable, nutritious foods in low-income areas (Pawlowski, 2018).

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allocated $4 million in grant funding to urban agriculture development through the Office of Uban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP), established in the 2018 Farm Bill. The funds will help with planning and implementing urban agriculture projects, with the intention of bringing communities together, educating the public, and improving nutrition and food security for residents (USDA, 2021).

Environmental Justice

Produce that is grown and consumed is one way people are interconnected with the environment. The quality of soil, water and air, all impact the quality and nutrient-density of produce. If people are growing food in soil that is contaminated, spending time outside farming in air that is polluted, and using water that contains toxins, this will impact their health over time.

Not only how food is grown, but how and where people access food impacts the public's health. Food deserts limit access to health-promoting foods due to inequitable planning that created areas where people do not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Image Source: Douglas Gayeton

Pictured: Karen Washington, Founder of the Garden of Happiness in New York City

"To free ourselves, we must feed ourselves."

- Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director & Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm

Low-income and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities most impacted by food apartheid can use urban agriculture as a way to increase food security and economic opportunities (Loker & Francis, 2020). There needs to be a cohesive system of food production and distributation for growing food in urban spaces to have the greatest impact. How will future urban agriculture projects benefit these communities, while continuing to gain momentum toward food soveirgnty and more equitable local food systems?

Systemic racism continues to play a major role in who has access to land in the United States. BIPOC communities have historically been cut off from having access to the resources needed to start and maintain urban agriculture projects, but leaders from these communities have ralied together, strengthening and growing the urban agriculture movement seen today. Racist city planning practices have led to environmental health hazards from pollution and toxic waste more commonly seen in low-income and BIPOC communities, which needs to be considered when working to heal the land before growing food. Equitable access to resources to mitigate these problems is necessary, and organizations like the Chicago Food Policy Action Council are fundamental in the community's ability to increase resiliency through urban agriculture.

Organizations leading the way in Oregon are Mudbone Grown's Feed'em Freedom Foundation, which started the Black Oregon Land Trust to help Black farmers access land to feed their communities. Zenger Farm is a 24-acre farm and wetlands that trains farm apprentices and runs a seasonal, sliding-scale CSA. Headwaters Farm Incubator Program works with new farmers to develop agricultural and entrepreneurial skills to help ensure their success.

"Urban agriculture is increasingly seen as an indicator of community resilience" (APA, 2011).

“Everybody should be able to grow their own food - even if you live on concrete.” - Linda Goode Bryant, Project Eats

References

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