Urban Farming Is Growing a Green Future

With seven billion mouths to feed, human agriculture exerts a tremendous toll on the planet, from water draws to pollution, and from energy use to habitat loss. But there is also a growing set of solutions, from organic agriculture to integrated pest management. More people around the world are taking a look at urban farming, which offers to make our food as “local” as possible. By growing what we need near where we live, we decrease the “food miles” associated with long-distance transportation. We also get the freshest produce money can buy, and we are encouraged to eat in season…more here Urban Farming Is Growing …

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Growing cities from within: urban agriculture in inner Brisbane.

The integration of ‘multifunctional’ land uses including agriculture, has benefits such as decentralised food production, food security, reinforcement of farming as a way of life, cultural landscapes and biological diversity (Bjørkhauga and Richards, 2008). The difficulty arises as multifunctional approaches, although analysed from a policy and economic perspective, have not been integrated in spatial analysis (Wilson, 2009, p. 278). Notable studies make it clear that we currently do not have the tools to deal with the planning or operation of multifunctional agriculture integrated with peri-urban communities. New ways of looking at farming practices are needed (Lawrence, et al., 2004; Bjørkhauga …

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