7 Important Benefits of Urban Farming
Urban farming isn’t a new concept: humans have been growing crops in urban areas since settlements first appeared many thousands of years ago. The history of urban farming has seen the practice go out of style after the Second World War, and then have a resurgence in the 90’s. While estimates vary, today between 15% and 20% of the world’s food is now grown in urban areas, and this number is steadily increasing. With our 21st century cities creating urban sprawl and mass migrations away from rural life, urban agriculture is having a big moment.
An example of urban farming is modular hydroponic container farms in unused urban spaces such as parking lots, airports, and factories.
While you may have some ideas about the ‘typical urban farmer,’ they may not be who you think they are. Urban farmers come from all walks of life, from “Saturday-only” part-timers to commercial producers of specialty crops for Michelin star-restaurants. Some examples of urban agriculture include:
- Growing hydroponic vegetables on patios, roofs and stairways
- Market gardens in small urbanized corridors and vacant plots
- Modular container farms in unused urban spaces, such as parking lots, airports, and factories.
Since turn-key modular hydroponic farms are able to fit anywhere, they are a popular choice for urban farmers.
This blog post will explore seven important benefits of urban farming in communities.
1.Encourage Healthier Diets
Urban farming provides access to an extremely healthy, and low-cost food source: vegetables! Leafy greens are packed with fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K, and B-vitamins, which have a protective factor against chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and obesity. Evidence suggests that fruit and vegetable intake is higher among urban farmers and that participation in such projects may improve fruit and vegetable intake.
Leafy greens are packed with fibre, vitamins A, C, E, and K, and B-vitamins, which factor in protecting against chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and obesity.
2.Reduce Food Miles
With urban farming, food miles are reduced when food is grown closer to where it’s consumed.
Food miles, which refer to the distance that food travels from farm to consumer, is one of the ways to measure the environmental impact of the foods we consume. A 2012 study showed that on average, 30% of food is imported in Canada, leading to annual emissions of 3.3 million metric tonnes of CO2. With urban farming, food miles are significantly reduced as food is grown close to where you live, which reduces carbon emissions from imports.
3.Educate Students About Food & Farming
Urban farming projects provide a unique opportunity to teach students about food production and farming. École KLO Middle School in Kelowna, B.C, started it’s modular hydroponic farming project with Growcer with education in mind. Students get hands-on experience with their “seed-to-feed” program where classes sponsor the six-week growth of a crop. Hands-on learning also goes beyond the farm and into the classroom, with supportive curriculum content being developed in science, English, and woodworking.
“We have this culture of sustainability and we felt that having a modular farm on the property would be amazing,” says Karla Lockwood, a grade 9 teacher at KLO Middle School. “It’s also really conducive to education . . . so having something that we can teach agriculture and food security through the winter months was an amazing opportunity.”
“The impact is tremendous, the kids love working in the farm, it’s something new . . . [And] it’s touching everyone and everyone is just so excited by it.” Learn more about this groundbreaking project here.
At KLO Middle School, hands-on learning also goes beyond the container farm and into the classroom, with supportive curriculum being developed in science, English, and woodworking.
4.Meaningful Local Employment
Urban farming opens up opportunities for city folks to work in food and farming.
Urban farming can also help support communities through meaningful employment. Growing food for a community is extremely important work: afterall, food is an essential part of life and connects us all. Urban farming opens up opportunities for city dwellers to work in farming.
By bringing meaningful agricultural work to communities, these jobs and the money they generate stay local. It’s an investment in the long-term health of a community!
5.Using Underutilized Land
While urban areas by definition have higher density populations, there is still a lot of underutilized land in urban areas. In Singapore, one of the highest density cities of the world where space is at a premium, the rooftops of nine multi-story car parks in public housing buildings were recently made available for farming. This shows that this type of space is available in every city with some creative thinking.
Some land or climates are simply unsuitable for farming as well. Urban farming (and especially indoor agriculture and modular container farming) overcomes this issue and makes productive use of land that wasn’t being used before.
For Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society near Prince Rupert, B.C., a hydroponic container farm was a space-efficient way to grow fresh produce in a rainy, cloudy climate.
6.Bringing Us Closer To The Food System
Many of us are unaware of all of the processes our food goes through to get from seed to table. Some surveys have shown that 1 in 7 children believe that vegetables come from the supermarket. By growing food close to home and engaging in urban farming, we are able to understand the natural systems that we depend on in a much deeper way.
It also forces us to take a closer look at our food system and all of the people whom we depend on for food, such as farmworkers, truck drivers, and packagers. In the short term this can lead to more feelings of appreciation and gratitude, and in the long term could lead to meaningful policy changes for greater equity among the workers in our food system.
Urban farming expands the education opportunities available for people not already exposed to agriculture and deepens our connection to food.
7.Helps Reduce Food Waste
Growing locally allows for better alignment between demand and affordable supply, which helps to reduce food waste and spoilage from large chains.
Globally, approximately 14 percent of food produced is lost before it even hits the shelves of a grocery store, according to the United Nations. Food that is lost and wasted accounts for 38 percent of total energy usage in the global food system. Growing locally allows for better alignment between demand and affordable supply, which helps to reduce food waste and spoilage from large chains.
It is also possible that by being more involved and exposed to the growing process, people will be less likely to reject produce for superficial cosmetic imperfections. The rejection of “ugly produce” affects one third of the fruits and vegetables that never even make it to our grocery store shelves because they are rejected on the way from the farm to the store. You’ll also be less likely to throw away food knowing your neighbour put six weeks of hard effort into growing it. Learn more about how growing local can help prevent food waste here.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic put a wrench in the global food system, and global food sovereignty is becoming increasingly valued by society. As we’ve seen in this blog article, urban farming can provide many important benefits to communities.
Are you interested in starting your own urban farming project? Check out Growcer container farms to learn more. We help you with urban farming business plans and offer full support with our turn-key solutions.
Download webinar: Modular Farming as a Sustainable Business
As the market for quality, locally grown produce soars, modular farming (whether in urban or rural areas) is a turn-key solution to satisfy both market demand while plugging gaps in our local food system.
Modular farming is a reliable option to supply restaurants, retailers, or add a source of nutritious produce for communities that lack access.
But sometimes it can be a hard to wrap your head around how to launch and maintain a sustainable modular farming business.
Can modular farming be an opportunity for you? Download this webinar to understand:
differences between types of indoor farming,
common operating models, and
how to make sense of the dollars and cents.
With modular farming, you can add fresh nutritious produce to your plate, and everyone else’s too.