The global food system is already witnessing the negative consequences of climate change and drought.
According to the Food Price Report issued by the Food Institute at the University of Guelph, fruit and vegetable prices in Canada rose between nine and ten per cent last year.
Urban agriculture has been presented as one approach that cities can adopt to empower residents to address food security concerns, and build stronger communities while doing it.
Today, around 15 per cent of the world’s food is grown in urban areas, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
And in Vancouver, urban agriculture has been growing rapidly. In 2013, urban farms in Vancouver sold $418,000 worth of produce to residents, according to the City.
In fact, urban gardening has become so popular, a new social venture from a UBC accelerator program is launching an app this spring to help people grow their own food.
The My Green Space app will help people choose the plant varieties that will work best in their specific garden conditions. It will advise them about how best to map out their gardens, and it will remind them when to water. It will also provide gardening tutorials.
But urban agriculture is more than just a fad.
In 2015, UBC graduate student, Anezka Gocova, produced an Urban Agriculture Garden Guide for the City of Vancouver as part of the Greenest City Scholar Program. The guide provides information about how to apply for, fund and design an urban garden.
Gocova’s guide is meant to help Vancouver reach its goal of improving food security by increasing food assets 50 per cent by 2020.
Urban farming can also reduce carbon footprints by cutting down on long-distance transportation of food, according to a National Geographic column. It can add greenery to cities and help purify runoff water. And it can create jobs for underprivileged populations.
Vancouver is undoubtedly a leader in urban agriculture in Canada. There were about 14 urban farms selling produce in Vancouver in 2013, according to a recent Vancouver Courier interview with Marcela Crowe, executive director of the Vancouver Urban Farming Society.
By Maura Forrest, 28 April 2016
The largest of those, Sole Food Street Farms, has a network of farms throughout the city that employs people dealing with drug addiction and mental illness.
Still, urban agriculture in Vancouver does face challenges. A recent report from Vancity credit union found that non-farmers have been buying up agricultural land in the city, which drives up costs for actual farmers.
The report found that the price of locally grown vegetables rose 26 per cent between January 2015 and January 2016.
And there are some risks involved in growing food in a large city. Soil contamination can be an issue, and finding clean water sources can be challenging in some areas, according to a 2013 paper in the Journal of Environmental Quality.
Urban farmers in Vancouver are also facing some important changes. In response to the sector’s growth, the City of Vancouver has proposed a two-year pilot project to regulate their industry.
“We’ll be monitoring and making recommendations to the city after their two-year growing season,” Crowe told the Courier. “We’ll be looking at the impact this has on farmers.”