Food

According to the United Nations Population Fund, "the year 2008 marked the first time in history that more than half of the world's population lived in towns and cities." In that same year, the world was rocked by the climax of an international food crisis. What grew out of this is a movement of persistent resourcefulness and virulent, explosive growth? Welcome to the world of urban agriculture!

Urban agriculture, simply put, is farming within city limits. Of course, it is also so much more.

In North America, Growing Power (GP) of Milwaukee, WI, demonstrates how agriculture can adapt and thrive in any urban environment. Founder Will Allen wanted to create an entire food system that was sustainable and accessible to inner city residents living in what is now commonly referred to as a food desert. What resulted is a two-acre urban farm in a working class, northwest neighborhood in Milwaukee. GP not only produces fresh veggies year-round – along with eggs, meat and fish – but also educates and inspires a local, national and international community of people.

"It was an astonishing surprise to me that a place like this existed in Milwaukee, or anywhere," said Jim Price, GP's coordinator of communications and public affairs. He underlines that GP "is not just a farm, it is a microcosm of a food system on a community level. ...We demonstrate the entire food system from the soil to the plate." The observers of this demonstration are most often the citizens of Milwaukee, many of them youth who, as Price points out, are "so used to packaged and processed foods, they literally cannot recognize foods in their whole form."

GP farmers embrace the principles of a design philosophy called permaculture, which seeks to mimic the natural environment in the production of human habitat and food. For the natural world, there is no such thing as waste, only nutrients in different stages of cycling. A city consumes and excretes massive amounts of nutrients, producing resource streams that urban farmers are eager to alchemize into delicious, beautiful veggies.

The limitations of an urban environment inspire resourcefulness and diversity: from rooftop farms in New York City, to an Urban Farmer's Market in Portland, OR, and demonstration urban homesteads in Victoria, BC. Backyard Bounty, an urban farm in Guelph, ON, coordinates the farming of 41 backyards to provide 10 restaurants and 55 Community Supported Agriculture members with fresh, "ultra-local" veggies. Urban agriculture adopts whatever form it must to produce fresh food where people live and, since 2008, more people than ever live in cities.

For those wishing to further explore this topic, Growing Power is hosting an Urban Agriculture Conference, September 10-12, 2010 in Milwaukee: growingpowerfarmconference.org