permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
[mailto:SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU] On Behalf Of Laura Lengnick
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 5:29 PM
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU
Subject: [SANET-MG] urban agriculture talking points?

Does anyone out there have info about the benefits of urban agriculture
written as talking points useful to a politician?  I've had a request
for some talking points and I don't want to spend the time researching
and writing a memo if someone is willing to share one.

I'm looking for economic, social and environmental benefits backed up by 
specific cited research.

--
Laura Lengnick, Ph.D.
Director, Sustainable Agriculture Program
Department of Environmental Studies
Warren Wilson College
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~ens/faculty/laura.php

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] urban agriculture talking points?
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 09:23:26 -0500
From: Stephanie White (MSU-CARRS) <whites25@MSU.EDU>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Laura,
Your question presupposes that the effects and benefits of urban 
agriculture are uniform across cities.  I get the feeling that you'd 
also like to present it to a politician in a way that demonstrates the 
benefits of UA in a way that accords with current notions of what 
constitutes proper use of urban space, i.e. activities that can be 
rationalized as economically competitive.  On the first point, I think 
you will have trouble finding research that can *objectively* prove 
urban farming to have these benefits. That is, the wisdom and benefits 
of urban farming is not really in the domain of "experts."  The reasons 
for that are numerous, but suffice it to say, the study of urban farming 
requires a multidisciplinary perspective.
On the second point, current notions of what constitutes "proper" use of
urban space are, in my view, a barrier to urban farming.  I think what 
needs to happen is that alternative notions of what people want their 
city spaces to be is at the heart of this discussion, and the voices of 
people who don't typically control use and access to land will have to 
be brought to the forefront. Urban agriculture is, through and through, 
a civic exercise. Politicians will be driven by hard facts as they apply 
to current ideas of economic development, no?  And that decision is 
largely driven by those who control access to land, who may (I assume) 
correctly argue that they will make more money from a hotel, Wal-mart, 
mall or parking garage than they will from an urban garden.

You will have to make this argument in ways that go well-beyond the 
typical framework for discussing agriculture because agriculture and 
economics is only part of the story.

Having said all that, here are a few resources:
Agropolis   http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/186-8/  (IDRC website has a 
ton of resources)

Lautenschlager and Smith "Beliefs, Knowledge, and Values Held by 
Inner-City youth About Gardening, Nutrition, and Cooking." Agriculture 
and Human Values  24, no 2 (2007)

Katherine Brown and Andrew Jameton, "Public Health Implications of Urban
Agriculture,"
Journal of Public Health Policy 21 no. 1 (2000)

Dana Fusco, "Creating Relevant Science through Urban Planning and
Gardening,"
Journal of Research in Science Teaching 38, no. 8 (2001)

Jim Bingen, Kathyryn Colasanti, Margaret Fitzpatrick and Katherine Nault,
"Urban Agriculture" in Critical Food Issues: Problems and State of the 
Art Solutions Worldwide.  Vol 1 Laurel Phoenix (ed) (2009) ....list of 
resources and websites at the end of this article

American Planning Association "Policy Guide on Community and Regional 
Food Planning." 2007 http://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/food.htm

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] Urban Agriculture Talking Points
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:27:42 -0400
From: Laura Lengnick <lengnick@WARREN-WILSON.EDU>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Hi folks,

As promised, I'm writing to report on the urban agriculture talking
points resources kindly shared with me by members of SANET. Many thanks
to all of you who wrote in with ideas and specific resources for
research-based information on the costs and benefits of urban
agriculture. Best regards, Laura

-------------------------
Three non-profits stand out to me as offering research-based information
about urban agriculture:

The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) http://www.foodsecurity.org/

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
http://www.iatp.org/localFoods/ , and

The Crossroads Resource Center http://www.crcworks.org/

This list is not exhaustive - it represents the combined wisdom of the
12 or so list-serve members who responded to my initial query, plus some
of my own digging as I became more educated. If you think I've missed an
important, authoritative resource, by all means let us all know.

---------------------------------
Here are the publications that I found most helpful as I developed my
own urban ag. background memo and talking points. All of these reports
are published to the web and free to download as pdf files:


The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) and the Crossroads Research
Center have collected and summarized research on the costs and benefits
of urban agriculture in two reports: /Urban Ag. and Community Food
Security in the U.S./ (2003) by the CFSC and /Local Food as Economic
Development/ (2008) by CRC. These reports provide specific examples of
the social, environmental and economic benefits of urban agriculture
supported by research data. The CRC's /The Potential for Urban
Agriculture/ (2009) is a concise description of the potential benefits
of urban agriculture and a roadmap for developing urban agriculture
projects.


The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) /Food and Society
Fellows/ program prepared a talking points brochure for policy-makers,
/Gardening – A National Call To Action/ released in August 2009.

Sustainable Seattle's Building the Local Food Economy program released a 
report in 2008 on local food multiplier project focusing on the food
industry in the Central Puget Sound entitled /Why Local Linkages Matter: 
Findings from the Local Food Economy Study/.

------------
Here are some web-based resources I found useful:

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. USDA Initiative to promote sustainable
local and regional food systems that will support small and mid-sized
farms and ranches, strengthen rural communities, promote healthy eating,
and protect our natural resources.
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/knowyourfarmer?navid=KNOWYOURFARMER

Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening Resources. Alternative Farming
Systems Information Center. National Agricultural Library. Beltsville,
MD.
http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=2&tax_level=2&tax_subject=301&topic_id=1444 

<http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=2&tax_level=2&tax_subject=301&topic_id=1444>

Urban Farm Hub http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/

City Farmer – Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture.
http://www.cityfarmer.org/

--
Laura Lengnick, Ph.D.
Director, Sustainable Agriculture Program
Department of Environmental Studies
Warren Wilson College

828-771-7003
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~ens/faculty/laura.php


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [SANET-MG] urban agriculture talking points?
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:59:34 -0500
From: Stephanie White (MSU-CARRS) <whites25@msu.edu>
To: 'Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group' 
<SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>,	'Lawrence F. London, Jr.' 
<venaurafarm@BELLSOUTH.NET>

You know...this is just an absolutely fascinating development.  I write 
from Michigan State and as a PhD student with a particular interest in 
urban farming (but in Africa).  Urban farming is so often positioned as 
an emergency measure and as a reaction to lack of wage labor (a 
perspective from a capitalist economy).  Here we see it being positioned 
as a measure to encourage "renewal" and I've heard people talk about 
re-building Detroit based on a food-economy foundation.  I suppose you 
could reasonably make the argument that it is an emergency response to 
the failure of modernity and industrialization.  But, that it is being 
positioned as a strategy for "renewal" seems to me to have legs, too. 
From what I can tell, there is a sort of palpable hope and excitement 
around agriculture in this city. The kind of agriculture that ends up 
taking shape will be interesting.  Will it be a sort of civic 
agriculture, will it be industrial agriculture, will it be a 
combination, and what are the implications for not only economic
renewal, but civic renewal?  Fascinating, exciting stuff.  I don't mean 
to sound like a romantic here (perish the academic-objectivist 
thought!!!), but doesn't this speak to something about agriculture that 
goes beyond "yields" and "production?"


-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 9:26 PM
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] urban agriculture talking points?

Tanya Kucak wrote:

http://cityfarmer.org/ is a terrific source. Tons of articles and links.

See also http://cityfarmer.info/

"Urban farming is so often positioned as an emergency measure and as a 
reaction to lack of wage labor"

That's also the way community gardens have historically been seen! In 
the late 19th/early 20th century, CGs were popular as a way to occupy 
high numbers of unemployed urbanites. During WWI & II, CGs were heavily 
promoted as emergency measures and produced prodigious amounts of food. 
But CGs have mostly been a "temporary" land use. What's been lacking is 
zoning to recognize food gardens and food security as a crucial 
component of cities. Also lacking: an ethic that gives priority to 
life-support and community-building amenities over more concrete and steel.

Detroit wants to save itself by shrinking - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/ap_on_bi_ge/us_downsizing_detroit

DETROIT – Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most 
of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for 
turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the 
fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city 
would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit 
and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 
139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace 
neighborhoods that are an eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant 
lots. Suburban commuters heading into the city center might pass through 
what looks like the countryside to get there. Surviving neighborhoods in 
the birthplace of the auto industry would become pockets in expanses of 
green.

Detroit officials first raised the idea in the 1990s, when blight was 
spreading. Now, with the recession plunging the city deeper into ruin, a 
decision on how to move forward is approaching. Mayor Dave Bing, who 
took office last year, is expected to unveil some details in his 
state-of-the-city address this month.

"Things that were unthinkable are now becoming thinkable," said James W. 
Hughes, dean of the School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers 
University, who is among the urban experts watching the experiment with 
interest. "There is now a realization that past glories are never going 
to be recaptured. Some people probably don't accept that, but that is 
the reality."