Urban Farming – Landwirtschaft der Zukunft? - Aware The Platform (2024)

FAQs

What problem does urban farming solve? ›

Urban farming can reduce transportation costs, help reduce runoff associated with heavy rainfall, and lead to better air quality. On this page, find links to USDA and other federal resources, legal information, funding opportunities, recent publications, and historical materials.

Urban agriculture improves food security by providing healthy and plentiful substitutes for purchased food, especially for poor households. Households that practice urban agriculture are also more likely to have access to a wider variety of nutritious foods such as vegetables and animal products.

The problem is particularly acute for high-tech urban farms because production can be so expensive. One consultant estimated that leafy greens grown in climate-controlled retrofitted shipping containers cost up to 10 times more than the same varieties grown on conventional soil farms.

Urban agriculture and climate resilience

In areas with long supply chains or where foods are transported by planes, growing food in local, urban gardens can replace transported foods and reduce transportation-related emissions. Urban agriculture also stores carbon, both in soil and vegetation.

Urban environments can be more challenging for farming due to factors such as limited space, a lack of soil, and exposure to pollution. In addition, urban farming can be more expensive due to the high cost of land and other resources.

City-grown fruits and vegetables are more carbon-intensive than conventionally grown crops, but there are ways to address their emissions. Rooftop farming in Brooklyn, New York.

The study revealed that city gardeners and farmers can reduce their climate impacts by cultivating crops that are typically greenhouse-grown or air-freighted” said study coauthor Jason Hawes, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability.

Urban farming increases access to healthy, locally grown food in urban areas where fresh produce is often limited or expensive. This can help reduce poverty and food insecurity in cities by providing residents with access to nutrient-rich foods at affordable prices.

Urban farming can deliver food – or at least some fresh produce – efficiently to dense populations without the greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient loss associated with transporting it across long distances. Already, urban farming produces about a fifth of the world's food.

Urban farming can potentially be a profitable enterprise, as it benefits from easy access to markets, low start-up and overhead costs (if you don't buy the land), better growing conditions (due to the urban heat island effect), easy access to water and less competition from native plants.

Why are farms disappearing? ›

The loss of farms isn't driven by only one issue. Regulations, input costs, pandemic changes, trade disruptions, aging operators, and agricultural land development are all pushing out farms. The smallest farms are experiencing the greatest challenges.

While there are certainly practical challenges to contend with, you can find urban farming examples in areas with untapped potential. For instance, more buildings are being developed with the infrastructure needed to support community rooftop gardens.

Habitat loss is the greatest threat to biodiversity. Urbanization not only destroys and fragments habitats but also alters the environment itself. For example, deforestation and fragmentation of forest lands lead to the degradation and loss of forest interior habitat as well as creating forest edge habitat.

The history of urban agriculture dates back to about 3,500 B.C., according to the American Society of Landscape Architects' (ASLA) blog.

Urban agriculture can include community gardens; larger scale urban farms or orchards; growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices for market; raising chickens or livestock and keeping bees. It also may include growing flowers and non-food crops for landscaping and other uses.

Urban farming utilizes space incredibly efficiently. This is especially true in the case of vertical farming. For example, Vertical Harvest, one of the largest commercial vertical farms in the US, grows the same amount of produce on 1/10 of an acre that traditional agriculture would need 5 acres to produce.

Job creation and economic growth: Urban farming businesses also contribute to addressing food insecurity by creating jobs and stimulating economic growth in local economies. As these businesses grow, they require a workforce to manage and maintain the farms, harvest crops, and distribute the produce.

Urban farming is the practice of growing fresh produce within the city for individual, communal, or commercial purposes. Urban farming often makes use of vacant lots, rooftops, and abandoned or repurposed indoor spaces to grow crops, such as fruits and vegetables.