Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution (35 page)

Cities—or, rather, those of us who live in cities—can no longer just be consumers of food and producers of waste. We're realizing that it's time to close the loop. We need to grow some food, re-localize our diets, and compost our food waste. And by doing these things, we liberate ourselves from that
Titanic
, the sinking global industrial food system.

W
riting a book is a humbling marathon. I could not have done this without a large network of support and assistance from family, friends, colleagues, and (to my delight and surprise) complete strangers, who took the time to answer questions or provide information, just for the love of urban agriculture and good, locally grown food. To thank everyone who helped me get from the initial idea to the final book would be too much, but every last piece of advice, interesting fact, helpful connection, and word of encouragement to keep writing helped make this book become a reality.

One of the greatest pleasures I got while researching and writing this book was to meet so many passionate people in urban agriculture, food systems, and urban food gardening. I will always treasure the new friends I met along the way who gave their time and energy toward helping me understand why they do what they do. Each and every one, in her and his own way, helped me realize that while growing a few heirloom veggies in the front yard, tending a community orchard, or keeping a beehive on a condo rooftop may seem like an insignificant thing on its own, it is these little actions of self-reliance and community self-sufficiency that are at the forefront of the new food revolution. More importantly, the world is a richer, and tastier, place for your important work. To them, I simply say: keep growing.

There are a few people I wish to acknowledge by name: Mifi Purvis
and Craille Maguire Gillies for being my sounding boards, especially during the early rumblings of this project; Adria Iwasutiak, the supreme literary networker; and my sincerest thanks to my agent, Chris Bucci at Anne McDermid & Associates, for being in love with the idea for the book from the beginning and trusting that I could see it through its long journey. And to the entire team at Prometheus Books, which shepherded this book from draft manuscript to beyond the bookshelf, my eternal gratitude for your guidance and contributions.

Above all, I need to thank my husband, Mike. This book couldn't have been completed without you shouldering more than your half of the load and allowing me the time to write. And for the daily offerings of help, which usually meant delivering plates of food and countless cups of tea to my desk, I love you.

Lastly, I got a significant lift during the final months of preparing this manuscript when I got a phone call letting me know that I was the winner of the 2011 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award, a Canadian book and magazine prize that helps independent writers bring social justice issues to light. Thank you for getting the connection between food and social justice, and for finding my book worthy of the prize.

biofuel
. An alternative fuel source made from plant-based alcohol (bioethanol) or vegetable oils (biodiesel). This is an alternative to fossil fuels, which are derived from oil and gas deposits.

colony collapse disorder (CCD).
The distressing phenomenon in which worker honeybees suddenly disappear from a hive. The causes of CCD are still poorly understood. It can account for significant, and distressing, losses every year for commercial and amateur beekeepers.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
A business contract between CSA-participating consumers and a farm, in which consumers pay in advance in the spring and receive a share of the harvest, usually weekly, until the end of the growing season. CSA shares are usually delivered to customers via a weekly box delivery or pickup point.

companion planting.
When a biological or structural symbiosis can be used in two or more plants to increase the yield or vigor of food crops.

concentrated animal feedlot operation (CAFO).
A facility holding a large number of uniform livestock in relatively close quarters for feeding, fattening, and, usually, slaughter. There is little consideration given in CAFOs to the animals’ quality of life and comfort.

co-producer.
The term used by Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, to refer to consumers. Petrini urges consumers to think
of themselves as co-producers to encourage them to acknowledge that their food choices are important and that they take an active role in the food system as opposed to a passive role.

edible forest.
The practice of cultivating food gardens that mimic or utilize natural woodland ecosystems as their model. This system is a lower-input alternative to food cultivation than agriculture, but it can produce surprising amounts of edible products. Also known as forest gardening.

food desert.
Urban phenomenon in which, despite reasonable levels of population density, there is a scarcity or absence of grocery stores and markets that sell fresh, nutritious food. Often people living in food deserts are prevented from accessing healthful food because of lack of affordable and convenient transportation options. Food deserts can often contain fast-food outlets and convenience stores as the only option for food purchases.

food mile.
The distance food travels from where it is grown or raised to where it is ultimately purchased by the consumer or end-user.

food policy.
A directive that proposes guidelines and policies surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of food for a defined group of people. Many municipal governments are adopting food policies written by grassroots food-security organizations in their cities.

food-policy council.
The organizing body that writes or oversees the food policy. A food-policy council can either be an officially appointed group of people or a self-appointed citizen volunteer group.
food security.
A catchall term for the level of accessibility to fresh, healthy, nutritious food for a person, family, or community. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's most current definition of food security is when “all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”

foodshed.
Describes the complex interaction of relationships between all the food that is produced, distributed, and consumed within a geographic region.

food shock.
A sudden, drastic interruption to food supplies for any reason, such as a weather or natural catastrophe, war, or lack of fuel.

food sovereignty.
A term describing a person's or group's ability to choose their own foods and agricultural system of production. The idea came about as a reaction to the globalization of food and the industrial food chain that leaves little cultural and individual freedom of choice of what or how food is produced.

French Intensive Agriculture.
A system of food production that brought together a number of techniques such as raised beds, heavy dressings of compost, cold frames for early forcing of crops, thick stone walls surrounding gardens to create a warmer microclimate, companion planting, and densely planted crops to reduce water loss and weeding. French Intensive Agriculture allowed Paris to produce impressive amounts of fresh food in an urban setting in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Green Revolution.
The term applied to the advances in crop and chemical sciences that produced much higher-yielding cereal and grain varieties in conjunction with new chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It also refers to the exporting of this new technology to at-that-time-developing countries like Mexico and India to industrialize their farming as a form of aid and foreign development. The Green Revolution took place between the 1940s and 1970s.

guerilla gardening.
A form of social and political activism in which gardeners plant flowers or food on underutilized private or public land without the consent of the owner.

industrial food.
Food grown and produced according to an industrialist mindset that is concerned with mechanizing and lowering cost of production by large-scale production and by concentrating manufacturing and distribution chains to achieve the lowest possible cost
of unit production. Author Michael Pollan offers this definition of industrial food in
The Omnivore's Dilemma
: “Any food whose provenance is so complex or obscure that it requires an expert to help ascertain.”

intercropping.
When two or more crops or plants are grown simultaneously in the same area, usually to achieve a more rapid succession of harvests than if one crop was planted, allowed to mature, harvested, and then removed before the next crop was planted.

locavore.
A person who seeks out locally grown or locally produced foods.

organopónico.
A small-scale, organic, cooperative-run urban farm in Cuba that grows food for its surrounding community. The term is now being used for similar small-scale urban organic farms in other Latin American countries.

peak food.
A term that mimics the idea of peak oil—oil being a finite resource, whereas food is generally seen as a renewable resource.
Peak food
refers to the point at which a system (global or regional) is producing at its maximum yield, after which production starts to decline. This decline would be due to soil erosion, nutrient exhaustion in the soil, water stresses, and any number of variables that would adversely affect the ability to grow food.

peak oil.
The point at which the extraction of oil reaches its maximum rate and efficiency, after which the supply goes into a terminal decline and the effort (and cost) to extract it invariably rises.

peak water.
The high point at which we are using renewable freshwater resources faster than they can naturally regenerate. This will lead to scarcity and higher cost as freshwater supplies decline.

permaculture.
An approach to living and growing food in a permanently sustainable way that draws heavily on or even closely mimics natural ecosystems. It takes an integrated approach toward food-production systems and other human needs.

Slow Food.
An Italy-based grassroots food movement that now counts
over 100,000 members in 130 countries. It began in 1989 as a countermovement to the globalization of fast food but now works on issues of food sovereignty and biodiversity preservation and in service to its motto of “good, clean, fair food for all.”

terroir.
A French term, borrowed from viticulture and wine production, that encompasses the cumulative effect of geography, geological variations, and climate on the flavor characteristics of foods.
Terroir
is used to explain why the same crop grown in different places will taste different despite the fact that it may be the exact same crop plant—even a genetic clone, as in the case of wine grapes. It not only describes the effect of place but takes into account the time frame during which the product was made.

urban agriculture.
The act of growing and, according to some definitions, distributing food in a defined urban area. The idea is to produce food closer to where the majority of consumers are, in cities. Urban agriculture tends to be small-scale agricultural enterprises, even on a household scale.

vertical farming.
A concept of stacked agricultural production, in vertical layers, to shrink the footprint of land-based agriculture. Some vertical-farm designs are essentially food-producing skyscrapers (though none of these designs have been realized yet). Vertical farming tends to incorporate closed-loop agricultural systems where nutrients in food production are recycled from one food-production area (such as freshwater fish tanks) to another (such as salad greens).

F
ood and the City
, as you by now have discovered, is a description of the urban-agriculture revolution happening in many cities in North America and Europe. If you are inspired to start growing even a small amount of your own food (which I hope you are), I have compiled some resources to get you going.

B
OOKS

City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing
(Vancouver, BC : Greystone Books, 2010) by Lorraine Johnson is peppered with advice and tips on urban food growing to keeping urban chickens.

Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work
(Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books, 2005) by Mel Bartholomew is a classic book on growing food on a home scale. It's a great guide to help even the most novice gardener begin a successful garden plot.

Urban Farming: Sustainable City Living in Your Backyard, in Your Community, and in the World
(Irvine, CA: Hobby Farm Press, 2011) by Thomas J. Fox is a new encyclopedic guide to urban food growing. It contains practical lists of how to build urban gardens as well as growing advice.

O
NLINE
R
ESOURCES
: N
ORTH
A
MERICA

Commercial Urban Farming

SPIN farming is an international movement, thanks to an easily reproducible small-scale urban-farming model that offers low start-up costs and good profits for urban farmers:
http://www.spinfarming.com
.

Young Urban Farmers
is a Toronto-based company that helps people grow food in cities:
http://youngurbanfarmers.com/
.

Community and Food Security

The
Community Food Security Coalition
(CFSC) is a North American coalition of diverse people and organizations working from the local to international levels to build community food security. The listserv community is especially responsive and helpful. Community Food Security:
http://www.foodsecurity.org
.

The
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
is a community-based food-advocacy group that promotes fair-food policies, healthy eating, urban agriculture, and job training in urban food growing and food systems:
http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/
.

Growing Power, Inc.
, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an excellent example of community-based nonprofit urban farming and community education and job training:
http://www.growingpower.org/
.

Community Gardening

The
American Community Gardening Association
is a binational nonprofit that supports community gardening in the United States and
Canada:
http://www.communitygarden.org/
. The association also has links to many municipal community gardening bodies in North America at
http://communitygarden.org/connect/links.php
.

Municipal horticultural societies and associations are also excellent references for urban gardening in many major cities.

Food Safety and Food Security

Award-winning author and educator Marion Nestle's excellent
Food Politics
blog is a reliable and accurate resource for food safety and food-security issues in North America:
http://www.foodpolitics.com/
.

La Vida Locavore
is a politically charged blog headed up by Jill Richardson, author of
Recipe for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It
(New York: Ig, 2009),
http://www.lavidalocavore.org/
.

Politics of the Plate
is author Barry Estabrook's excellent blog that covers food safety and politics:
http://politicsoftheplate.com
.

General Urban-Agriculture Information

City Farmer's website is the global go-to site for the latest news about interesting projects and news from the world of urban agriculture:
http://www.cityfarmer.info/
.

Deconstructing Dinner
is an excellent Canadian radio program and Internet podcast that often focuses on leading-edge issues in North American food security, urban agriculture, and local-food systems:
http://kootenaycoopradio.com/deconstructingdinner/index.html
.

Grist
is an online environmental newsmagazine that reports on urban agriculture and other food issues regularly:
http://grist.org
.

Land-Sharing Websites

Landshare is a match-making website for people who have land to lend to those who don't have land but wish to grow food, mainly in urban areas. It began as a program in the United Kingdom (
http://www.landshare.net/
) but has now launched in Canada:
http://landsharecanada.com
.

Shared Earth
is the major match-making website for those looking for free urban grow spaces in the United States:
http://www.sharedearth.com/
.

Residential Urban Food Gardening Resources

Ron Berezan, the
Urban Farmer
, has a website full of sustainable living resources, permaculture design, and educational exchanges in Cuba:
http://theurbanfarmer.ca/
.

School Food Gardens

Famed Bay Area restaurateur Alice Waters has put considerable time and effort into her
Edible Schoolyard Project.
The stated mission is to “transform the health and values of every student by building and sharing a food curriculum for the school system:
http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/
.

Urban Beekeeping

New York-based
Borough Bees
is an excellent blog by an experienced urban beekeeper. In addition to regular updates, “Beekeeping 101” is a
good primer for any would-be urban beekeeper:
http://www.boroughbees.com/
.

Search the Internet for your local beekeepers association for local links, information, and assistance on beekeeping in your city, where permitted.

Urban Chickens

There are many urban chicken blogs and resources. For starters, there is
Toronto Chickens
blog, with helpful basics on keeping urban chickens and a listing of cities where bylaws permit small flocks in the city limits:
http://torontochickens.com/
.

Vertical Farming

The Plant Chicago, the world's first vertical farm posts information about its progress and systems at
http://www.plantchicago.com/
.

The Vertical Farm
is the companion website to the book of the same name. It has a gallery of designs and a blog at
http://www.verticalfarm.com/
.

WindowFarms
is a commercial business based in New York, NY, well worth mentioning. It has instructions on how to build a vertical farm in your home or apartment out of recycled water bottles and some plastic tubing:
http://www.windowfarms.org/
.

O
NLINE
R
ESOURCES
: I
NTERNATIONAL

Capital Growth
is London's municipally supported urban-agriculture development and resource organization that aims to create 2,012 new
community food-growing spaces across London by the end of 2012:
http://www.capitalgrowth.org/
.

The
London Beekeepers Association
represents urban beekeepers in the central London area:
http://www.lbka.org.uk/
.

The
National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners
is the national representative body for the allotment movement in the United Kingdom:
http://www.nsalg.org.uk
.

One of
Slow Food International's
priority projects is its
A Thousand Gardens in Africa
, which will aim to set up school, community, and municipal gardens in every African country:
http://www.slowfood.com/education/pagine/eng/pagina.lasso?-id_pg=24
.

The
Soil Association
promotes ecologically sound farming and sustainable food through its educational campaigns and community programs throughout the United Kingdom:
http://www.soilassociation.org/
.

Sustain
is the London-based alliance of over one hundred different groups in the United Kingdom. Sustain does a tremendous amount of work in urban food security and urban agriculture. The website is a great resource for information and educational material:
http://sustainweb.org/
.

Urban Bees
is the London-based website of urban beekeepers and beekeeping instructors Brian McCallum and Alison Benjamin:
http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/
.

Vertical Veg
is a London-based social enterprise that inspires and supports people with very limited space who wish to grow lots of food:
http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/
.

I will continue to post urban-agriculture stories and chronicles from my urban-agriculture interviews and adventures at my Foodgirl website at
http://foodgirl.ca
. Join me on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/FoodandtheCity
, and follow me on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/jennifer_ck
.