Two of three urban farmers “have a social mission that goes beyond food production and profits,” says the NYU Steinhart School, citing research by associate professor Carolyn Dimitri and colleagues. Based on a survey of 370 urban farmers across the United States, the study says three of the four top reasons listed by urban farmers — food security, education, community building, and producing food for the market — have social motivations.
“The survey showed that all urban farms, regardless of their mission, are relatively small and face similar challenges in terms of providing the primary farmers with a living,” says NYU. “The bulk of the farms, regardless of their mission, have sales below $10,000 a year and annual sales are not necessarily aligned with the farm’s profit-drive or socially motivated mission.”
Farms with an explicit social mission donate more of their food and are less likely to own the land, said the study. One-third of urban farmers operate as non-profits. “The non-profit model may be an ideal business model for long-term economic stability of socially minded urban farms,” said Dimitri. “Even if they operate at a loss while scaling up production and providing affordable food to local residents, grants may make it possible to cover shortfalls until farms are self-sufficient.”
The study, “Urban agriculture: Connecting producers with consumers,” was published in the British Food Journal and is available here.
For more on urban farming’s promise and limitations, check out FERN’s piece, by Elizabeth Royte, published last year in Ensia.