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Technological, schmecknological. City folks grow crops in their backyards or even on their mow strips already. It's a cute idea, but it makes more sense to me to grow crops on farmland instead of building suburbs on them. But it's a potential option for reusing large vacant suburban subdivisions!
Something we agree on. It's also a potential option for reusing large vacant, or near-vacant urban shopping centers.
I've never been to Salt Lake City in the summer, but I'm told people there utilize every possible piece of land to grow veggies and other foods, e.g. freeway banks, etc. Fits in with Brigham Young's statement: "This is the place. We will make roses bloom in the desert".
Urban farming is happening all over Detroit, and in some areas on a rather large scale. I thought it was bizarre at first, but there is something strikingly beautiful in the stark contrast between urban and rural. You'll be walking down a block in Midtown and nestled between two 4-story tenement buildings is a large, thriving vegetable garden.
Sorry to bring up an old thread but I wanted to contribute.
I believe that one of the underlining reasons for the use of verticle farms is when the Earth's population reached 9.5 billion in 2050, most of the farm land will be gobbled up to make way for more humans. They'll need to compensate for that.
Is that strictly necessary or true? There are plenty of places that people can live where farming isn't all that practical--and despite the claims of "locavores," it's probably better to have people live in non-arable areas and ship food to them than to have them all move to agricultural areas and have to pave more farmland for them to fit.
The day stuff like this picks up any real momentum, giant companies like Monsanto are going to step in and regulate joe blow from being able to farm organically on their own land.
The day stuff like this picks up any real momentum, giant companies like Monsanto are going to step in and regulate joe blow from being able to farm organically on their own land.
Yeah that would be ba. Hopefully the urban farming revolution is tied to the organic food revolution. I think that one day in the near future it will be successful and people will turn to organic food, and it would be perfect to have food grow everywhere. In backyards, on top of buildings, even on the side of buildings. Didn't they pass the law to make it hard to organic farm, the food safety act of 2009?
Is that strictly necessary or true? There are plenty of places that people can live where farming isn't all that practical--and despite the claims of "locavores," it's probably better to have people live in non-arable areas and ship food to them than to have them all move to agricultural areas and have to pave more farmland for them to fit.
Nobody is suggesting paving over farmland. The movement behind urban farming is growing food in the neighborhood. It adds to the amount of different varieties of fruits and vegetables one can choose from. The food is fresh, you can trade produce with other people in the neighborhood, and for people who are on a tight budget having as little as a 10x10 plot of dirt in the back can save them a few dollars over the course of a summer.
If you haven't noticed, good produce isn't always available in the grocery stores and it isn't always cheap. Grocery stores carry what commercial growers have to sell. Commercial growers offer a limited selection that is primarily based in yields, not quality. And in a country where people are overweight from eating potato chips and other junk snacks, a little exercise in the garden combined with the incentive to eat what you have grown is nothing other than beneficial.
I believe that one of the underlining reasons for the use of verticle farms is when the Earth's population reached 9.5 billion in 2050, most of the farm land will be gobbled up to make way for more humans. They'll need to compensate for that.
Who is suggesting that urban farming will limit the effects of paving over farmland to make room for those extra couple of billion people. It seems to make more sense to limit the amount of farmland they occupy, either via increased density or via people living on relatively non-arable land.
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The movement behind urban farming is growing food in the neighborhood. It adds to the amount of different varieties of fruits and vegetables one can choose from. The food is fresh, you can trade produce with other people in the neighborhood, and for people who are on a tight budget having as little as a 10x10 plot of dirt in the back can save them a few dollars over the course of a summer.
Just so you know, I have a backyard garden, glean from fruit trees, and trade produce with my neighbors (most recently harvested a neighbor's tree in return for a share of the jam made from the fruit.) My plot isn't much more than 100 square feet, but I do French intensive gardening in several raised beds, so it actually supplements my veggie budget quite a bit. I'm hardly someone you have to sell on the merits of backyard gardening--I just question its practicality for those who don't have a backyard, or those in places with climates not well suited for farming, or the cost:benefit per acre return of urban farming vs. farming on farms (instead of building on them.)
Who is suggesting that urban farming will limit the effects of paving over farmland to make room for those extra couple of billion people. It seems to make more sense to limit the amount of farmland they occupy, either via increased density or via people living on relatively non-arable land.
It would be based upon the effects of urban sprawl.
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