The topic of food sustainability has always been an underlying consideration of mine in everyday life. I always joke around with my sister and tell her that the almond milk in her chai tea latte is unsustainable. The reality is the practice of sustainability is not a joke, it is a serious matter. Today my vision encompasses the idea of self sufficiency with respect to food related items. I think if we can take it upon ourselves to maximize whatever growing conditions we have for growing food, why don’t we do it instead of relying on large farming operations to do it for us. The idea of urban farming has become a larger trend since Covid because people had nothing else to do other than staying inside within their selective areas. For example, working in the botanical industry I have really seen the demand for seeds. Urban farming has many pros and cons, however, as the world urbanizes and subsidizes less and less space dedicated to nature, we slowly disconnect and realize the properties that nature freely provides us. We must find a solution to still work our way to design and plan for nature rather than thinking that nature is an obstacle. I think one solution for sustainable agriculture in urban environments is indeed urban farming. Urban farming can help decrease GHGs and aid in taking a step in the right direction with respect to cutting the major demand for food products. By farming our own nutritious foods in fallow or unused soil around our living environments, we are being self-sufficient and contributing to less carbon emission by open soil beds. In turn we would expect farmers to produce less as there is a lesser demand for food and veg products. Ultimately making a small impact in the vicous complex adaptive system of food farming. But honestly, this small impact by millions of people sets an example and could cause a chain reaction, influencing higher governmental officials to take action and create change on a larger corporate scale. #growgoodfood, #creategoodnature, #UnleashValues
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Hi Hunter, I agree that each individual should take efforts to produce and maximize their own food, but there is still a need for farmers to produce other food related items such as wheat. Its a great idea, but the implementation of it could pose a challenge
Hi Hunter,
I found your perspective on urban environments to be very compelling. However, given that by farming in an urban and personal setting, the availability and diversity of food accessible to an individual becomes greatly limited. In addition, if disease or pests somehow infest the limited urban supply of food, then people would likely have to go back to relying on large scale farming once again. Furthermore, as COVID becomes less of a problem over time, people will resume their original lives and would likely have less time to invest into urban farming. With these three obstacles in the way, it may be difficult to implement urban farming as a prevalent practice.
Hello Hunter, this approach of urban farming would have been more sustainable if our society could decrease the need for non-local products. Unfortunately, this is not very practical as our life standard is constantly raised higher. Therefore reforming policy should consider this approach.
Hi Hunter! I loved reading your insightful post. I agree that the Covid era did reshaped the way many people view things, such as self-sufficiency. Besides urban farming being more sustainable and promoting self sufficiency, I think urban farming can also play a role in community building! Have you observed this trend in the urban farming initiatives?
Hi Hunter, my family has a plot from a local community garden where we grow a lot of our own greens such as kale and cucumbers and green beans etc. I definately agree that advocating for more green space such as community gardens we can personally experience and take part to contribute to the larger sustainable food production issues.
I really like this idea! Community gardens also have so many health benefits from mental health to decreassed mirconutrient deficiences in places around the globe!
I love this! I babysit for a family, and every single weekend I go with their 2.5 year old and we spend *hours* in the local community garden, where a plot costs all of $15 for a whole year. He can now identify nearly all of the plants, and is so excited about the idea of growing and eating his own food. I think using seed literacy and community gardens to educate and get people excited is such a unique and important initiative, and I would love to see more of it!
There's this strip called the Arbutus Greenway in Vancouver where there are many community gardens littered along the way. Walking by it quite often it seems like the community gardens are well-kept and very active, which is very nice to see! Perhaps urban farming can be promoted with better city planning.
I love the idea of urban farming and I hope to have a small urban garden of my own one day. The idea of growing a portion of the food we eat ourselves seems so rewarding and very doable! I know that ubc even has a seed library to help the community start growing their own fruit and veggies which is a cool step towards this goal, I'd definitely check it out if you're interested!
Hey Hunter, I love that you included imagery and drew from your own personal experiences in this discussion. It definitely resonated with me when you suggested urban farming, and my family's been doing it ourself for the last few years and it didn't even dawn on me as a general solution. Thank you for your insight and suggesting a realistic, self-sufficient method contributing to less carbon emissions!
Hi Hunter,
I think your post is wonderful and you touch on such a relevant theme! Since the pandemic, many people and families are taking interest in growing their own food. I've seen so many posts on social media of people building garden beds and slowly developing large-scale vegetable gardens at home. Although I've only been successful at maintaining a small herb garden, I hope to be able to grow a lot of produce at home one day! If we begin growing our own food, not only will we enjoy the process, but we can become less dependent on large farming operations. Perhaps incentives and supports (from the government) for starting vegetable gardens can further encourage this idea!
Thanks for your wonderful post on the topic of sustainable agriculture, Hunter! I love your stated intervention of increasing urban farming and how this can spark corporate-level change. I am curious how you envision the implementation of more urban farming. How can people best be encouraged to engage in these practice so that urban farming follows system-changing action?
Hi, I think urban farming seems to be a potential avenue towards the sustainable agriculture. It could help citizens get rid of the large farming cooperations to some extent by using the farming resources more precisely and more carefully. Moreover, urban farming might lead to a possible change in diet structure as urban farming tends to focus on plants rather than livestock as a result of spatial limitation.
Hi Hunter! Thanks for sharing your personal experience and discussions you have in your daily life. You make some great points for urban farming; we could not only eat more nutritiously but contribute less carbon emission. I think this is a wonderful idea for us that live in a beautiful, sunny place and have community gardens as well as even little balcony or backyard gardens. This may be a little harder, however, for people on the east coast that experience weather that's less favorable for many delicious fruits and veggies as well as yearly natural disasters. Do you have any ideas for those folks? Thanks again :)
I think more self-sufficiency is a great idea! And since agricultural activity is predicated on demand, changing how we consume is one way anyone can influence the industry, and hopefully lead to more sustainable practices.
Great post Hunter! I think the idea of becoming more self sufficient is not only beneficial to the environment, but also beneficial to improving the wellbeing of community members. I believe people eat the typical "American" diet because it is what is readily available and convenient for them in the grocery store. However, increasing the demand for community urban farming and getting others interested in learning about their food will improve people's connections to their community, improve the environment, and make people healthier.