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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [SANET-MG] urban agriculture talking points?
  • Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:14:22 -0400


-----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."



  • [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [SANET-MG] urban agriculture talking points?, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 06/10/2011

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