Urban Farms or Urban Myths?
HISTORY SHOWS URBAN FARMS CAN FEED CITIES WHILE PROVIDING ECOLOGICAL SERVICES – Perhaps the revival of urban farming will lead not just to a diet for a small planet but a diet for smaller people?
Category: Local and Regional Food
Updating Land Use Policy Before It’s Too Late
A number of US cities have already instituted planning policy that protect both agriculture and open space. However, smaller cites without these land use policies are now feeling the consequences of sprawl and the need for action. Missoula – the City and the County – is a perfect example.
Destruction of our soil destroys our food
Those of us who are not on the growing end of the food system tend to lose track of the soil which supports production of our food. Even the fish we eat are affected by soil destruction. A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) tells us that we need to see dramatic improvement in the way we – that is, the world – manages our soils.
Food Systems Planning at the Local and Regional Level
Ever more Americans are becoming urban dwellers and access to good quality, reasonably priced food grown sustainably is more and more challenging. Food is grown using chemical-laden agricultural methods and travels longer distances to kitchen or table. We need to find ways to bring sustainable food production closer closer to home.
New Urbanism Meets Alternative Agriculture
This will be the first of several columns and interviews resulting from a recent 4-day Congress for New Urbanism Conference, otherwise known as CNU 19, held this year in Madison, Wisconsin, home of dairy, bicycles, and wacky politics. How many other states have a quarter of their state senators up for recall or host tractor protest rallies around the state capitol, have 6 months of winter, and a burgeoning organic foods industry?