From small gardens to roof-top farms greenhouses, urban agriculture “is taking off and taking on new forms,” says the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, which released a 35-page assessment of the movement. “It is touted as a means of promoting public health and economic development, building social capital and re-purposing unused land,” says the report. “In some case, the enthusiasm is ahead of the evidence.”
The researchers say the greatest benefits of urban agriculture center on its ability to increase social capital, community well-being and civic engagement with the food system, provided residents have a voice in deciding which projects proceed in their neighborhoods. “While large-scale job creation potential has not been demonstrated, urban agriculture projects offer valuable opportunities for skills development, workforce training and supplemental income generation,” says a Hopkins release. Anne Plamer, co-author of the report, says an accurate view of urban agriculture is essential or it will forfeit local support.
The study says the majority of research on urban agriculture focuses on community gardens. “This reflects the fact that gardens remain the dominant form of urban agriculture – involving far more people and growing far more food in volume and value than urban farms.” Roof-top gardens, indoor farms, aquaponics facilities and technologically innovate formats “are still in the early stages of research and practice,” says the report.
FERN also looked in-depth at the promise of urban agriculture last year in an article by Elizabeth Royte, “Urban Farming is Booming, But What Does it Really Yield?”