For starters,
urban farming comes in all different shapes and sizes. It is essentially taking a farm from its traditional place in history—out on the countryside; tractors and farm animals the second and last thing in sight after rows and rows and rows of corn—and setting it right smack dab in the middle of the biggest urban cities. Innovation is a key component when it comes to farming in a big city, since there isn’t much space to haul a tractor in for harvesting. Everyone who has made urban farming possible has made due with what is around them, and thanks to the internet, there doesn't have to be a lot of time spent on researching a topic like urban farming.
Vertical farming is often one of the first things that may be associated with an idea like urban farming; instead of planting seeds in the ground like a traditional farmer might, why not plant upwards? Dickson Despommier has spent a good portion of his life in studying human demographics and learning about just how much land we are going to have to work with in the coming years. By the time we reach the year 2050, a plot of land bigger than the country of Brazil is going to be needed to feed the ever-growing population (1). Yet, Despommier doesn't forget the fact that most of us will be living in urban centers that look awfully similar to the city of Detroit. In the video below, Despommier explains in detail how an idea like vertical farming can create an entire "ecosystem" of jobs, and because it is a commodity that will never not be needed, it is the perfect solution to bringing together an urban metropolis with a little bit of soil and seeds.
Vertical farming is often one of the first things that may be associated with an idea like urban farming; instead of planting seeds in the ground like a traditional farmer might, why not plant upwards? Dickson Despommier has spent a good portion of his life in studying human demographics and learning about just how much land we are going to have to work with in the coming years. By the time we reach the year 2050, a plot of land bigger than the country of Brazil is going to be needed to feed the ever-growing population (1). Yet, Despommier doesn't forget the fact that most of us will be living in urban centers that look awfully similar to the city of Detroit. In the video below, Despommier explains in detail how an idea like vertical farming can create an entire "ecosystem" of jobs, and because it is a commodity that will never not be needed, it is the perfect solution to bringing together an urban metropolis with a little bit of soil and seeds.
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Nourishmat is another player in the field of urban farming that thinks less about the aspect of making it a business, but focuses more on making it convenient and easy for anyone living anywhere to create a 4' x 6' mat of fresh veggies and herbs. The idea stems from an "eco-friendly solution to people with limited resources and time," and lets be honest, most-if not all-people living in an urban environment don't have time to spend tending to a farm on top of other responsibilities, like raising a family or working a full time job (and in many cases, both!) This innovative creation includes a reusable mat with a built-in irrigation system (simply connect it to a hose) and weed barrier. Users simply drop a specially crafted seed into each of the clearly labeled holes, and watch the rest unfold before them! Each mat can be used again and again for 3-5 years, and there's no need to worry about plotting farmland, pulling weeds, or even about watering the plants if set up with an inexpensive timer. Creators Phil Weiner and John Gorby have virtually taken care of all of the hardships in setting up an urban farm for those who don't have time to spare.
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Urban farming is becoming an increasingly popular medium for producing fresh greens for the home and for income, as it carries the potential to create plenty of opportunity for many. Below are more captivating examples of how urban farming has become integrated in a variety of lifestyles:
Being an island,Japan has had a great farming community that has since been left to older generations. The sons and daughters of the aforementioned leave for work in the city of Tokyo, leaving behind the simple farming lifestyle they were brought up on. Pasona, a company working in technical support among other non-farming related business, has created an urban farming beacon, using their own building as a leading example of the good urban farming can do. The short, three-minute video to the right illustrates how the company has stuck its foot in the door by reinventing not only an old, decaying building, but also the idea of farming and agriculture that has been around for so long.
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Urban Farming in Tokyo from imageMILL on Vimeo. |
A worker for the Pasona “farm” confesses that an obstacle standing in the way of their initiative was connecting these young urbanites back to agriculture, as it was “something far away from their own lives.” This is a stigma has been dismissed through the heavy integration of the home-grown goodies into most of its menu options, as well as the demonstration in its variety of job tasks that make what a full time employee of the Pasona “farms” a worthwhile job.
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But farming in the city doesn’t necessarily have to integrate everyone within range, either. Though we generally think of farming as a difficult and timed event that must depend on sunlight, water supply, heat, humidity among many other factors, there are plenty of people who have managed to create homegrown veggies from their very own windows out of materials lying around the house. Britta Riley and her 18,000 followers-slash-co-creators online have taken items like water bottles and 2-liter soda cans and transformed them into a vertical window farm that will make about three plants (for beginners, that is). Everything that is needed from the fish air pumps to the hang-up system can be either found at home or in store for roughly $30 total.
To Britta and her army of DIY-ers at home wanting to be proactive about the food they are buying and eating, vertical window farming is the perfect way to become a little more conscious about our own health. For the cost to feed a family of six at McDonald's, anyone can begin to be the healthy change in their own, or their family's life.
"We're kind of showing that we can actually get really, really far using things that we already have available to us as consumers,"
-Britta Riley
Over in Philadelphia, Eugenia Perret and Elizabeth Oliver have added their innovative two-cents to an unlikely, “deemed useless” item. There have been pop up shops and tiny homes remade from empty storage units or freight containers, so what’s stopping them from creating a garden within one too? The duo’s main goal in mind was to confront the “issues of urban infill, 21st century development and sustainability” (2) by taking this storage unit and turning it into a year round green market with the help of an air conditioner to control its inside temperature.
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There is another company working to make freight container gardens an easy, convenient, and smart way to grow food locally; their name is Freight Farms. At Freight Farms, they have mastered the art of sustainable food gardens by creating a “Leafy Green Machine” with enough room for 4,500 mature plants to grow in. The entire container itself can be monitered right from the palm of a hand, in an all inclusive app that allows the water/air quality to be maintained, LED lights to be shut on or off, along with a varity of other functions to get green food going.
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Around the world, people have found ways to make urban farming work as Earth’s population continues to grow at a rate that isn’t going to be letting up anytime soon. Whether they have nothing to start with, or thousands of dollars to put down towards making a sustainable garden for a home, urban farming reaps opportunity far beyond that of food security in a community or single home. Detroit has already started to reap these other opportunities and it is by their example we must continue to push and support urban farming.
It started with
a few graduates from the University of Michigan, who brought to life a small urban garden in the North End of Detroit behind the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. This area of Detroit had seen many of its old, abandoned homes struck down by former mayor Mike Duggan, who proposed that whatever was not fixed was to be destroyed (3). Who and what was left behind reminisced of the better days: when everyday needs like groceries were within a reasonable distance, and looking over your shoulder wasn’t a common gesture.
Ms. Jones (or Pinky to her friends and family), who lived in a home with no running water or electricity, and was amidst the disappearance of her young daughter, was not on board for this “community garden” when the students had first showed up. Unlike other failing attempts to help Detroit that had fallen through in no time, the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative held its ground. Before long, the garden was blossoming with herbs and viable veggies, and to Ms. Jones’ delight, some basil for a recipe that she had been meaning to try. Gathering up some of the herb and meeting co-founder Tyson Gersh had kick started this new person in Ms. Jones, leading her into volunteer work with the group that had her “finally smiling again.” |
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Eventually she earned a leadership role in the group and began to spread out the wealth and word of this urban garden by giving it back to other members in her community (3). Although she wasn’t getting paid as a volunteer, there were plenty of other ways in which the initiative gave back to her. Working with the initiative has given her a chance to take back her life after leaving college, loosing her job, and her daughter. Reinvented, Ms. Jones now works to pay it forward with her actions to give back to her community like never before. The slideshow above showcases a flyer that asks for volunteers to "come whenever" in order to clean up an old neighborhood, asking that the community work together towards a bigger picture besides some free food.
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Keep Growing Detriot is another urban farming initiative that has truly made it their goal to create endless possibilities for those involved. Located on the corner of Third and Plumin Detroit, KGD main focus is make healthy foods accessible to those who are stuck buying their groceries from convenient stores or gas stations near their homes. To over 1,400 schools, families, churches and centers around Detroit, good fruits and veggies are delivered by KGD (4), yet it doesn't stop there.
Besides just growing the food and handing it to those in need, this program also offers the tools and seeds necessary to begin growing a garden. Classes on basic gardening, water conservation, how to keep what's been grown fresh and the like are held at community centers (schools and churches) around the city, in order to prepare the 20,000 residents (4) who have taken an interest in urban farming.
Education is another critical portion of Keep Growing Detroit that focuses on teaching professional skills and lessons to the youth of Detroit. Every summer, an appreticeship program takes place with the initiative. Presentation of themselves to volunteers and visitors, public speaking and essay writing are worked on along side of learning how to start and take care of a garden. No matter what the problem is, KGD has figured out a way to make progress in it.
Keep Growing Detriot is another urban farming initiative that has truly made it their goal to create endless possibilities for those involved. Located on the corner of Third and Plumin Detroit, KGD main focus is make healthy foods accessible to those who are stuck buying their groceries from convenient stores or gas stations near their homes. To over 1,400 schools, families, churches and centers around Detroit, good fruits and veggies are delivered by KGD (4), yet it doesn't stop there.
Besides just growing the food and handing it to those in need, this program also offers the tools and seeds necessary to begin growing a garden. Classes on basic gardening, water conservation, how to keep what's been grown fresh and the like are held at community centers (schools and churches) around the city, in order to prepare the 20,000 residents (4) who have taken an interest in urban farming.
Education is another critical portion of Keep Growing Detroit that focuses on teaching professional skills and lessons to the youth of Detroit. Every summer, an appreticeship program takes place with the initiative. Presentation of themselves to volunteers and visitors, public speaking and essay writing are worked on along side of learning how to start and take care of a garden. No matter what the problem is, KGD has figured out a way to make progress in it.
Now, there are around 1.400 urban farms around Detroit as this movement continues to grow. It requires the same innovation and hard work just as any solution to a problem will need, yet the advancements and opportunity that can be reaped from planting a few seeds will continue to be felt long after a single season has ended. This idea for urban renewal in Detroit, short-term or long-term, will create endless possibilities when its produce is carried down the street to a local restaurant, or to the arms of a family in need. Words and ideas flow from ear to ear as a community comes together for dinner, and the city of Detroit now has a channel of opportunity that can overturn the bleak past from which they were once living in.
When you tend your tomatoes, are you producing more than tomatoes? We are in an era when gardens are front and center for hopes and dreams of a better world, or just a better neighborhood— or the fertile space where the two become one."
WORKS CITED:
1.http://www.verticalfarm.com/
2.http://www.greensgrow.org/urban-farm/green-design/
3.Eligon, J. (2014, Jul 07). Testing ground for a new detroit. New York TimesRetrieved from https://cod.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.cod.idm.oclc.org/docview/1543254027?accountid=10202
4.http://detroitagriculture.net/about/
1.http://www.verticalfarm.com/
2.http://www.greensgrow.org/urban-farm/green-design/
3.Eligon, J. (2014, Jul 07). Testing ground for a new detroit. New York TimesRetrieved from https://cod.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.cod.idm.oclc.org/docview/1543254027?accountid=10202
4.http://detroitagriculture.net/about/