Most discussions about urban agriculture are filled with optimism. And they should be. Urban agriculture gives us a path to a better, more sustainable future. It solves many of the problems we face today. But amongst all this optimism, we also need to ask an uncomfortable question: what happens if we don't adopt urban agriculture?
If we don't adopt urban agriculture, our food will no longer be able to satisfy our basic nutritional needs. With high yield farming causing steady drops in the quality of our food, new food systems are required to protect the nutritional value of our food.
If we don't adopt urban agriculture, food will become to expensive for some people to afford. Our current food systems are causing the price of food to rise steadily. Soon, high food prices will put a basic human need out of reach for many.
If we don't adopt urban agriculture, we will run out of places to grow food. High yield farming is creating a crisis of soil depletion as our soil is losing its fertility. Once our soil becomes infertile, we will be unable to grow anymore food.
If we don't adopt urban agriculture, more than half the world will go hungry. Our current food systems are only able to feed four billion people. With a global population of six billion, one in three people are currently starving. As the global population grows to a projected ten billion, six out of ten people will go hungry if our food systems remain the same.
If we don't adopt urban agriculture, our food systems will crumble under the weight of the human race.
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
3 Ways to Put Urban Agriculture to Work for You
It's easy to recognize that urban agriculture is a far superior alternative to our current food systems. It's also easy to pinpoint ways in which adopting urban agriculture yourself will make improvements to your own life. But sometimes, it isn't easy to know where to start. In this post, we'll give you a few easy ways to incorporate urban agriculture into your lifestyle.
1. Start growing your own food. This is the simplest and most straightforward way to start improving your life through urban agriculture. Innovative new urban agriculture products from companies like CitiGrow now allow anyone to grow their own food regardless of space or time constraints.
2. Join or create a community garden. By collaborating with others to grow urban agriculture crops, you can multiply the effectiveness of your efforts. Community gardens are becoming more and more popular, so search around for one to join in your area. And if your area is lacking a community garden, why not be the one to start it?
3. Purchase your food from urban gardeners. With more and more people becoming practitioners of urban agriculture, locally grown food is becoming increasingly available. Check out some local markets and other places to see if anyone is selling the produce of their urban gardens in your area. Although this is more expensive and often less rewarding than growing your food yourself, it can still be an excellent alternative for some people.
1. Start growing your own food. This is the simplest and most straightforward way to start improving your life through urban agriculture. Innovative new urban agriculture products from companies like CitiGrow now allow anyone to grow their own food regardless of space or time constraints.
2. Join or create a community garden. By collaborating with others to grow urban agriculture crops, you can multiply the effectiveness of your efforts. Community gardens are becoming more and more popular, so search around for one to join in your area. And if your area is lacking a community garden, why not be the one to start it?
3. Purchase your food from urban gardeners. With more and more people becoming practitioners of urban agriculture, locally grown food is becoming increasingly available. Check out some local markets and other places to see if anyone is selling the produce of their urban gardens in your area. Although this is more expensive and often less rewarding than growing your food yourself, it can still be an excellent alternative for some people.
Friday, 31 August 2012
Seven Benefits of Growing Your Own Food
1. Lets you eat better, more nutritious food
2. Saves you money
3. Reduces pollution by eliminating the process of food transportation
4. Allows food to be grown in a sustainable way that doesn't cause soil depletion
5. Lets you transform virtually any area with access to sunlight into a beautiful, productive greenspace
6. Gives people the opportunity to be self-sufficient
7. Gives you the personal satisfaction of knowing that you are growing your own top quality food in a way that betters our environment
2. Saves you money
3. Reduces pollution by eliminating the process of food transportation
4. Allows food to be grown in a sustainable way that doesn't cause soil depletion
5. Lets you transform virtually any area with access to sunlight into a beautiful, productive greenspace
6. Gives people the opportunity to be self-sufficient
7. Gives you the personal satisfaction of knowing that you are growing your own top quality food in a way that betters our environment
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Vision for the Future
The world will be a better place when urban agriculture is widely adopted.
Instead of paying outrageous prices for chemically infused food with poor nutritional value, people will be able to buy fresh, natural, nutritious food at affordable prices.
Instead of wasting money and polluting the earth with the transportation of food, food will be grown locally where little transportation is needed.
Instead of cities and countries relying on importing food, they will be able to grow their own and become largely self-sufficient.
Instead of not knowing where your food comes from, you will be able to see your food source and watch it as it grows.
Instead of large corporations sucking all the profits out of the food industry, tens of thousands of local growers will be able to make great livings for themselves by providing food for their communities.
Changing our food system will be a tremendous achievement for individuals, for societies, and for our world. So why wait any longer? Do something to make urban agriculture a part of your life today.
Instead of paying outrageous prices for chemically infused food with poor nutritional value, people will be able to buy fresh, natural, nutritious food at affordable prices.
Instead of wasting money and polluting the earth with the transportation of food, food will be grown locally where little transportation is needed.
Instead of cities and countries relying on importing food, they will be able to grow their own and become largely self-sufficient.
Instead of not knowing where your food comes from, you will be able to see your food source and watch it as it grows.
Instead of large corporations sucking all the profits out of the food industry, tens of thousands of local growers will be able to make great livings for themselves by providing food for their communities.
Changing our food system will be a tremendous achievement for individuals, for societies, and for our world. So why wait any longer? Do something to make urban agriculture a part of your life today.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Declining Nutritional Value of Food
Healthy eating should be one of the most beneficial trends around today. All over the world, people are investing their time, energy, and money into eating nutritious food. Ideally, these people will be rewarded for their efforts with improved physical appearances, higher levels of energy, and overall better qualities of life.
Unfortunately, healthy eating is more difficult today than it has ever been before.
Thirty years ago, to eat healthy, all you had to do was buy foods that were recognized as "healthy foods" (fruits, vegetables, etc). Contrary to popular belief, that doesn't work anymore.
The commercial produce you buy today has only 60% of the nutritional value as the same produce did 30 years ago. This dramatic drop in quality is a direct result of the high-yield farming practices used today. The combination of using chemicals to grow food and forcing the land to produce unnaturally high quantities of food is ruining the quality of the food itself.
And this problem is only getting worse. Right now, our food does not contain enough nutrition for us to fully benefit from it. But as quality continues to decline, our food will soon be too poor to meet our basic nutritional needs.
The solution is to eliminate foods grown through high-yield techniques from your diet. And one of the best ways to do that is through urban agriculture. By growing your own food, you can truly experience all the benefits of healthy eating.
And what's the point of eating healthy if you're not going to experience the benefits?
Unfortunately, healthy eating is more difficult today than it has ever been before.
Thirty years ago, to eat healthy, all you had to do was buy foods that were recognized as "healthy foods" (fruits, vegetables, etc). Contrary to popular belief, that doesn't work anymore.
The commercial produce you buy today has only 60% of the nutritional value as the same produce did 30 years ago. This dramatic drop in quality is a direct result of the high-yield farming practices used today. The combination of using chemicals to grow food and forcing the land to produce unnaturally high quantities of food is ruining the quality of the food itself.
And this problem is only getting worse. Right now, our food does not contain enough nutrition for us to fully benefit from it. But as quality continues to decline, our food will soon be too poor to meet our basic nutritional needs.
The solution is to eliminate foods grown through high-yield techniques from your diet. And one of the best ways to do that is through urban agriculture. By growing your own food, you can truly experience all the benefits of healthy eating.
And what's the point of eating healthy if you're not going to experience the benefits?
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Transportation of Food and Urbanization
The 21st century may become known as the century on urbanization. Today, more people than ever are living in large cities and urban centers. For example, nine out of ten Canadians now live in a major city. Fifty years ago, only half of all Canadians did. This trend is not unique to Canada. It is happening in every continent, all over the world.
And it is creating huge problems for our food systems.
All over the world, cities are depending on rural farms for their food. In order to feed a city, massive quantities of food must be transported thousands of kilometers from the rural farms into the cities. The problems is, this process of transporting food is incredibly inefficient. It consumes tons of resources and causes horrible pollution. It also costs billions of dollars, which are injected into your food prices. And with the rising costs of fuel, those food prices are only going to get more and more expensive.
So can we save all the resources that are currently being wasting by the transportation of food?
The answer is simple: stop transporting food altogether.
Because urban agriculture allows people to grow food in the cities where it will ultimately be consumed, we no longer have to rely on rural farms for our food supply. We don't need to keep wasting all the resources we are using to transport food. And we certainly don't need to keep paying the mark-ups on our food caused by transportation.
The trend of urbanization certainly isn't going to chance to accommodate our food systems. So we need to change our food systems to accommodate urbanization.
And urban agriculture is the way to do that.
And it is creating huge problems for our food systems.
All over the world, cities are depending on rural farms for their food. In order to feed a city, massive quantities of food must be transported thousands of kilometers from the rural farms into the cities. The problems is, this process of transporting food is incredibly inefficient. It consumes tons of resources and causes horrible pollution. It also costs billions of dollars, which are injected into your food prices. And with the rising costs of fuel, those food prices are only going to get more and more expensive.
So can we save all the resources that are currently being wasting by the transportation of food?
The answer is simple: stop transporting food altogether.
Because urban agriculture allows people to grow food in the cities where it will ultimately be consumed, we no longer have to rely on rural farms for our food supply. We don't need to keep wasting all the resources we are using to transport food. And we certainly don't need to keep paying the mark-ups on our food caused by transportation.
The trend of urbanization certainly isn't going to chance to accommodate our food systems. So we need to change our food systems to accommodate urbanization.
And urban agriculture is the way to do that.
Friday, 10 August 2012
Harmful Effects of Current Agricultural Practices
The way we are feeding the world today is starving the world of tomorrow.
Our current agricultural practices rely heavily on high yield farming involving chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Although this form of high yield farming is capable of producing large quantities of food in the short run, it destroys our land and our food in the process. Furthermore, our current food system in general is putting incredible stress on our environment.
Forcing the earth to produce an unnaturally large amount of food depletes the soil of nutrients. This means that the soil is no longer fertile. It becomes incapable of growing food and is essentially useless. Once all of our soil is depleted, we will quite simply be unable to grow any more food. And the world will starve.
In addition to destroying our land, high yield farming is destroying our food. The nutritional quality of our food is declining at a frightening rate. The produce sold in your grocery store today has only 60% of the nutrition it did only 30 years ago. If this trend continues, our food will soon not be of enough quality to support our basic nutritional needs. This decline in quality is the result of high yield farming not allowing food to grow at a natural rate in a chemical-free environment.
Finally, the pollution caused by large farm equipment and food transportation vehicles is devastating. Most of these trucks and machines operate on diesel fuel, which is one of the most environmentally harmful sources of energy.
Our current agricultural practices are destroying our land, our food, and our environment. But with urban agriculture, we can solve these problems. We can start growing nutritious food in a sustainable way without polluting the earth with toxins.
Stay tuned, and find out how in future blog posts.
Our current agricultural practices rely heavily on high yield farming involving chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Although this form of high yield farming is capable of producing large quantities of food in the short run, it destroys our land and our food in the process. Furthermore, our current food system in general is putting incredible stress on our environment.
Forcing the earth to produce an unnaturally large amount of food depletes the soil of nutrients. This means that the soil is no longer fertile. It becomes incapable of growing food and is essentially useless. Once all of our soil is depleted, we will quite simply be unable to grow any more food. And the world will starve.
In addition to destroying our land, high yield farming is destroying our food. The nutritional quality of our food is declining at a frightening rate. The produce sold in your grocery store today has only 60% of the nutrition it did only 30 years ago. If this trend continues, our food will soon not be of enough quality to support our basic nutritional needs. This decline in quality is the result of high yield farming not allowing food to grow at a natural rate in a chemical-free environment.
Finally, the pollution caused by large farm equipment and food transportation vehicles is devastating. Most of these trucks and machines operate on diesel fuel, which is one of the most environmentally harmful sources of energy.
Our current agricultural practices are destroying our land, our food, and our environment. But with urban agriculture, we can solve these problems. We can start growing nutritious food in a sustainable way without polluting the earth with toxins.
Stay tuned, and find out how in future blog posts.
Sunday, 5 August 2012
What is Urban Agriculture?
Urban agriculture is the process of growing food in cities. The idea behind urban agriculture is to grow food as close as possible to where it will be consumed. Traditional agriculture involves growing food on rural farms, then transporting it to the cities where it will be consumed. By utilizing urban agriculture, we are able to save all the costs and resources associated with transporting food.
Traditional farmers require large masses of land to grow their food on. Urban agriculture practitioners, however, are masters of finding ways to use the little space they have to grow as much food as they need. These innovative urban farmers use techniques such as container gardening and growing food on rooftops to produce very high yields of food.
Urban agriculture is the way of the future. As more and more people are living in major cities, the need for urban agriculture will increase dramatically. Right now, food costs are rising, the nutritional quality of food is falling, and our current agricultural practices are more strained than they have ever been before. Urban agriculture is the one solution that addresses all of these problems.
The best part about urban agriculture is this: anyone can do it. Anyone can help change our food system for the better. In doing so, you will also save yourself money and eat more nutritious food. You have the ability to make urban agriculture a part of your life and enjoy all its benefits.
So will you?
Traditional farmers require large masses of land to grow their food on. Urban agriculture practitioners, however, are masters of finding ways to use the little space they have to grow as much food as they need. These innovative urban farmers use techniques such as container gardening and growing food on rooftops to produce very high yields of food.
Urban agriculture is the way of the future. As more and more people are living in major cities, the need for urban agriculture will increase dramatically. Right now, food costs are rising, the nutritional quality of food is falling, and our current agricultural practices are more strained than they have ever been before. Urban agriculture is the one solution that addresses all of these problems.
The best part about urban agriculture is this: anyone can do it. Anyone can help change our food system for the better. In doing so, you will also save yourself money and eat more nutritious food. You have the ability to make urban agriculture a part of your life and enjoy all its benefits.
So will you?
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