Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Who wants my urban farm?

Reposted from April 7 2011

So the only problem I envision with urban farming is that small-scale community farmers will be taken over by agri business and we will defeat the point of the urban farming. The point of urban farming is based on your perspective. And, actually there are many points of view of urban farming, including sustainability, concerns about population growth, creation of green jobs, food justice and just aesthetics.
As I plan more raised beds in my back yard, I grumble a little. I'm thinking that once this looks real nice, some developer will want to come and take my property- my urban oasis. I immediately drift off into a daydream where I imagine myself in jean overalls, a t-shirt, and gym shoes standing on my back porch with a shot gun cocked in both my hands.  
Get off my land, I say.
Mam, put the shot gun down, by eminent domain, we have the right to seize this property for the public good.
I squint my eyes and growl. There's no public good from takin' my land. You got til I count to three.
But Mam!

One!

Here's the paper. .

Two!

I think she's serious, they say incredulously. As the men turn and run away they exclaim, We'll be back with the police.
You do that! I"ll be right here.

There's a sly grin on my face and my eyes are rolled up to the right as I day dream.  The squeak of a squirrel running through the yard wakes me from my stupor.
Hey squirrel, get out of here!  I hiss and the squirrel runs up the fence and into the neighbor's yard.
Who wants my farm anyway, I think.
So I decided to to a little digging. Digging through the ether, in databases on my local library website.
And yes, this is a shameless plug for you to use the resources at the public library.
Who indeed wants an urban farm? Urban city planners who are interested in revitalizing cities include urban farming in their plans. They discuss enlisting neighbors and residents in planning this urban revitalization with the inclusion of urban farms, but also the creation of green jobs.
There are a lot of issues to overcome in urban farming, from obtaining the land from government land banks to actually tilling the soil. Soil that in most cases has suffered the effects of industrial development.  Soil remediation is a critical issue if the urban farm is growing food.   
And what would be the point of a farm only growing flowers- unless they were edible. And, though nasturtiums are great, can you an imagine only a diet of flowers. . . No. . . no, I can't.
So after getting my tax dollars worth of research on the library databases, I causally "googled" for agribusiness and urban farms; I found an example of just the thing I feared. In Detroit, it looks as if developers have looked at an urban farm and considered turning this community-based revitalization project into a large-scale business.  Personally, I'm not against business. What I have concerns about are the principles upon which that business is based.  Urban farming that accounts for building  community, sustainably, providing food and jobs where both or scarce is important.  A business model of civic entrepreneurship would be acceptable to me.
But who am I? I'm just one hip urban farmer.


Sources of Inspiration. . . excluding the squirrel
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