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What Teens Say...
Name: Emily Groupp
Essay Theme: Ag Science in the City |
State: New York
School: Home Schooled |
The Importance of Agriculture
in Urban Areas |
How can a city dweller eat healthier, live in a better environment,
and save money all at the same time? Natural resources are limited
in urban areas, so nothing should go to waste. Urban agriculture
is our chance to save money, help our environment, and improve
health.
Urban agriculture can benefit all of society. Urban agriculture
can save the city money, the building owners money, and the
growers money. Urban consumers might even save money. The Toronto
Food Policy Council introduced the idea of rooftop gardens.
Rooftop gardens will reduce the cost of storm drain system maintenance.
This can be accomplished by decreasing the water runoff. The
soil on the roof will absorb rainwater, and that will mean less
water going into the storm drain system thus reducing storm
drain maintenance costs.
The expense of using heating and cooling systems will be lower
if rooftop gardens are planted. Buildings will be warmer in
the winter and cooler in the summer. The soil acts as a natural
insulator. It keeps the heat from rising through the roof in
the winter. In the summer it prevents the sun from warming the
air inside.
Urban consumers might even save money. When produce is grown
and distributed locally, the result is lower packaging and shipping
costs for the grower. Hopefully the producer will pass on the
savings to the buyer.
Urban agriculture improves the environment in three ways. Gardens
naturally cleanse the polluted urban air. Plants and trees absorb
carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. City gardens benefit the
wildlife we share existence with. They provide homes and refuge
for uprooted wildlife that come to the city seeking shelter.
The environment is also helped because natural resources are
used less for packaging and shipping (e.g., fuel, paper, plastics).
Less pollution and waste would be generated.
City farms improve the health of the body and society. They
can supply fresh, undamaged produce. Certain waxes and sprays
must be applied to protect shipped fruits and vegetables; these
chemicals would not be necessary for local foods. Also, the
fresher the food, the more nutrition it retains. Involving individuals
in urban gardening restores the people's connection to nature.
The responsibility of ownership helps produce respect of the
land's natural process. This sense of stewardship can generate
a feeling of community.
Society can benefit from city farms as we see in Cuba. They
have practiced urban gardening for several years and discovered
a way to feed their famished country with a surplus to sell.
In Philadelphia and California the crime rate was lowered after
starting gardening projects. A Philadelphia police officer noticed
that crime reduced from "40 to 4 incidents per month"
after she started a gardening project. In California the crime
rate "decreased 28%" after 1 year of gardening.
Urban agriculture is nothing new; it's at least as old as Cleopatra-according
to excavations of ancient Egypt. It provides an opportunity
to bring the country to the city. This paper only begins to
explain the advantages of urban agriculture. City farming can
save the budget, the environment, and our health. The best way
to see this happen is to plant some seeds.
References:
| Altieri, M., N. Companioni, K. Canizares,
C. Murphy, P. |
| Rosset, M. Bourque, and C. Nicholls. 1999.
The greening of the "barrios": |
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Urban agriculture for food security in Cuba. Agriculture
and Human Values 16: 131-140. |
| Baker, L. 2000. Warehouse rooftop supports
urban agriculture. Business 22(2):16. |
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Boyden, S. 1996. The city: So human an ecosystem. Natural
Resources: The UNESCO Journal on the Environment and Natural
Resources Research 32(2): 1-16. |
| Garnett, T. 1996. Farming the city: The
potential for urban agriculture. The Ecologist |
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26(6):299-307. |
| Nelson, T. 1996. Closing the nutrient
loop. World Watch. |
This essay was part of a 2003 essay contest sponsored by
Council for Agricultural Science & Technology.
Click here to see how essays were
selected.
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