Urban Farming 101

+ Urban farming has huge production potential

By using space efficiently, urban farms can produce significant supplies of food for the population. In fact, there are 22 countries that could theoretically supply their cities by farming less than 10 percent of urban land. Beyond that, 39 percent of the global population lives in countries that could feed their city populations by using less than a quarter of urban land for urban farming.

+ Urban farming makes it easier to buy local

Local foods tend to be fresher, meaning they not only taste better, but have higher nutritional contents that are not lost during long-distance cold storage transport. With their lack of designated farmland, cities are most susceptible to second-rate produce being delivered from far away. Urban farming creates a valuable alternative.

+ Urban farming is good for a city's ecosystem

Urban farming benefits cities and residents in many ways:

• Urban gardens absorb water after heavy rains, preventing it from running off into the sewers, which decreases the amount of harmful sediments, chemicals, and pollutants that end up in water sources.
• Planting urban gardens reduces the number of heat islands in cities. Heat islands are surfaces like pavements and rooftops that absorb heat, getting up to 90ºF hotter than the surrounding air temperature. Green roofs (rooftops covered by varying degrees of vegetation) can be 30–40°F cooler than non-green roofs, which can reduce ambient temperatures city-wide by up to 5°F.
• Urban farming means feeding grounds for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. As the bee population has decreased dramatically over the past decade, it is more important than ever to create spaces for pollinators to flourish.

+ Urban farming helps rebuild neighborhoods

Urban farming has very distinct social benefits: the presence of urban farms is associated with "improved neighborhood aesthetics, reduced crime, and community cohesion." Furthermore, community gardening projects can increase social bonds and foster stronger networks between neighbors.

+ Urban Farming Can't Meet all Nutritional Needs

Of the 22 countries that can supply their population using less than 10% of urban land, only nine can meet the recommended 300 grams of vegetables. At the same time, 51 countries couldn't meet these needs even if they farmed 100 percent of their urban land.

+ Food from urban farms could be contaminated

When growing food in urban environments, it's important to consider what might be in the soil other than essential minerals. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns urban gardeners about potentially harmful compounds lurking in the certain cities’ soil: lead, arsenic, dioxins, mercury, solvents, cyanides, to name a few.

+ Urban Farming may only benefit the elite

While urban farming creates opportunity for universal access to fresh, local, and healthy foods, it is usually not the people in need who reap the benefits. The main clientele for these farms are not soup kitchens or convenience stores, but high-end farm-to-table restaurants, and otherwise privileged consumers who can afford to pay high prices for urban-grown produce.