Why #UrbanFarming rules

Urban farming and gardening is a thing now, but not everyone thinks its a good idea. Most of the resistance, though, seems to come from a lack of understanding of all its benefits. Indeed, it can be said that the concept of growing food in the city truly rocks.

Most opponents of the idea start from a premise of the form:  Can urban agriculture really feed the world?   This is getting off on the wrong foot, though, as proponents in general are not against the more typical farms in rural areas.

One argument  often heard is that city real estate is just too expensive for something like farming or gardening.  Many cities, however, have the equivalent of "urban prairies" that are ripe for agriculture.  There are roofs, balconies, yards, lots and many other spaces that are already openly available for growing.

Now buying land in many parts of the city for a traditional farm would not make sense because of land costs.  There is a new type of agriculture, though, which allows farming in buildings including high-rise structures.

In such structures, you can have multiple plots layered over each other for each acre of surface land. If located in the right spot, these types of high-tech buildings can save the growers a great deal of money in transporting the food from the farm to the table.

What's happening now is that a lot of farm land on the outskirts of cities gets eaten up by new development resulting in ever-expanding urban sprawl.  This intensifies the traffic congestion making it more and more expensive for farmers to get their product to the urban market. 

And then, you have to think about the costs not related to the farmers.  Those trucks, including big rigs, moving in and around cities make traffic worse for everybody. It takes a toll on everything from our health to our wallets/purses come tax time when we have to pay for gridlock solutions.

Farms and gardens on rooftops have benefits beyond just growing food as well.  The green cover helps reduce the urban heat island effect plaguing most cities.  This phenomenon, besides making us uncomfortable, has many other negative side effects including increasing the amount of ozone and other pollutants in urban air.

Rooftop greenery also helps control stormwater runoff, which decreases both water quality and quantity.  The uncontrolled drainage also leads to damaging erosion that degrades natural defenses against flooding.  The gardens and farms also hamper noise pollution from entering buildings, and the sight of them decreases stress and makes us happier.

Urban farming can provide solutions to some of the problems in the poorer parts of our inner cities.   Food deserts exist where entire communities do not have access to fresh healthy produce and other food.  Plots and gardens can help bridge this gap, along with providing economic opportunities for disadvantaged  neighborhoods.

As to how much food we can produce in urban and suburban areas, the question is really not easily answerable.  Technological advances in areas like vertical farming, aquaponics, wastewater utilization, crop rotation and the like will certainly increase if the current trends continue, and this will add to greater efficiency in production. 

Given the preponderance of benefits, we have to give a green thumbs up to the urban farm and garden.