FEATURES

Canada

Revival of Urban Agriculture

_ , , ( )droehr@sala.ubc.ca Marc Schutzbank, Isabel Kunigk, Daniel Roehr(Assistant Professor, The Landscape Architecture & Environmental Design Program, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, The University of British Columbia)

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French fries are not a vegetable, and broccoli is not grown already plasticwrapped in a supermarket cooler. Yet, in many households across Canada and North America, there is a greater intimacy with McDonalds than with the planting of squash or the taste of a truly ripe tomato. Our food culture promotes whatever gets us out the door and ready for work. We spend less time eating and gardening than ever before. With 80% of Canadians living in urban zones, it has been easy to separate from an agrarian past in which agricultural self-reliance was the norm. (Statistics Canada, 2011). It was not until the green revolutions development and emphasis of industrial agricultural practices in the early part of the 20th century that it became possible for people to think they could leave the land entirely (Khush, 1999). Since 1921, employment in the agricultural sector has decreased 93.93% (Statistics Canada, 2009). We do not work on farms; we do not live on farms. We rarely even see the places where our food comes from. We are alienated from food production. The results of this disconnection are significant. Canadians are witnessing increasing rates of obesity, heightened risk of food contamination, and inflated food prices. As a result, many people are starting to seriously consider the question of how to feed themselves for the first time since the 1950s. One of the answers is the rejuvenation of urban agriculture, dusting off pitchforks and turning soil in a new grow-your-own food culture. In this article, we will explore four modern motivations for urban agriculture in Canada: an increasing obesity epidemic, fear of food insecurity, heightened food prices, and a desire to make environmentally sound food choices. Canadian urban agriculture organizations are beginning to address these massive problems. We will highlight their work, concluding with a discussion of a new urban farm that we helped to initiate.

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Victory garden posters

North American Urban Agriculture: A Brief History

Historically, urban agriculture has provided for Canadians during times of economic upheaval or war. Gardening was a way to ensure that there would be enough food on the table to support households. During World War II, ordinary citizens were encouraged to cultivate Victory Gardens to provide their own food so that large farms could produce for the war effort. The American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, announced that Victory Gardens provided 42% of fresh produce in 1943 (Peters, 1944). After the war, the Victory Garden posters were rolled up and people returned to their lives. As urbanization increased, food gardening became less common as space became a limiting factor. During the 1960s and 1970s, the counter culture movement claimed urban agriculture for itself, seeking to redefine how individuals interacted with the environment. Urban agriculture became a means of protecting the environment by providing an alternative to industrial, fossil fuel-based food systems. In 1978, City Farmer, Canadas First Urban Agricultural Office began educating the public about urban agriculture (Levenston, 2011). In the 1980s, as an outgrowth of the counter culture movement, cities began to espouse urban agriculture as a means of greening the city and providing open spaces.

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Current Urban Agriculture

Urban agriculture manifests itself in a number of ways in Canada. Community gardens are perhaps the most recognized form of urban agriculture. Community gardens are plots of land shared with residents who privately or cooperatively cultivate the space. Plots might be for food production or beautification, depending on the agreements with the landowner and an individuals interests. Many individuals donate produce grown in the garden to local food banks. Though community gardens are one of the most well known urban agriculture programs in Canada, urban farming is becoming increasingly practiced and discussed. Urban farming is an entrepreneurial venture, where farmers use private or public land to grow and sell produce within cities. It is estimated that urban agriculture globally employed 800 million in 1996, and will feed 35-40 million people by 2020 (Smit, Ratta, & Nasr, 1996). In Canada, community gardens and urban farming have attracted the interest of municipalities because both programs have the potential to mitigate obesity, develop local economies, and provide access to low cost healthy food, all in an environmentally friendly way.

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Why Urban Agriculture: Obesity

Obesity has become a national epidemic: two out of three adults are overweight and the number of obese adolescents increased 250% from 1978 to 2004 (Shields, 2005). The reasons behind expanding waistlines are complex, but are related to a variety of factors including: increased fast food diets, limited access to healthy foods, and decreased physical activity (Huybrechts, Bourdeaudhuij, & Henauw, 2011). The evidence is clear, obesity is linked to massive health problems, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, several forms of cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, sleep apnea, and gallbladder disease (Must et al., 1999). Furthermore increased incidence of obesity affects more than just the individual. In aggregate, obesity has led to an estimated cost of $300 billion for the United States and Canada through losses in productivity and increased usage of medical services (Behan & Cox, 2011). Increasing access to healthy fruits and vegetables has been shown to decrease the likelihood of becoming obese (He et al., 2004). Urban agriculture is one method of increasing access to healthy foods. Research conducted at Michigan State University shows that adults with a household member who participated in a community garden consumed fruits and vegetables 1.4 more times per day than those who did not participate, and were 3.5 times more likely to consume fruits and vegetables at least 5 times daily (Alaimo, Packnett, Miles, & Kruger, 2008). Urban agriculture is one way that citizens are beginning to address obesity. In Toronto, Canada, FoodShare is leading the way to helping urbanites eat more healthily. Developed as part of a municipal response to increased hunger and pressures on food banks, FoodShare has become a leading advocate for urban agriculture. FoodShare collects produce from a number of local producers, some of which are urban farms, and then resells that food at cost to communities with barriers to accessing fresh and affordable produce. FoodShare also works with schools to provide locally grown and fresh food options to students through its student nutrition programs. At one technical school, FoodShare manages a market garden where students are in charge of an entrepreneurial urban farm, teaching students both business and farming skills. The success of experiential learning is a clear benefit for urban agriculture programs. As FoodShare creates access to fresh food through numerous programs, they are helping to redefine the inner city as a place for gardening and food production. Students involved in FoodShares programs see urban areas as prime growing spaces and receive hands-on training for future urban agricultural employment (FoodShare, 2011).

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Why Urban Agriculture: Food Safety

Over the past year and a half, the industrial food system has logged 192 food recalls within Canada: one roughly every three days (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 2011). In 2009, Salmonella bacteria contaminated peanuts in the United States. It was only after hundreds of people were sickened that over 80 products were recalled in Canada (Hewitt, 2009). An outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes

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occurred at a meat packing plant in Quebec, killing over twenty people (McKie & Cribb, 2008). The number of diseases and outbreaks due to food safety are numerous and very public, increasing the demand for safe products. There is little transparency in the food industry. Understaffed and weakened regulators do not have the capacity to test every food product before it hits shelves. Imported food is even more difficult to inspect. In 2002, 88% of fresh fruit was imported, roughly half of fresh vegetables, a quarter of red meat, and 9% of eggs (Statistics Canada, 2002). Inspections for imported foods often on third party contacts. As imports have increased, so have reports of pesticide-laden vegetables, kidney-failure inducing melamine in milk products, and improper labeling of international organic produce. Even the Chinese execution of two executives charged with knowingly producing tainted food has not stymied unsafe food practices in that country. As reported by The Los Angeles Times, Chinas food supply includes, diseased pigs used for bacon; noodles made of corn, ink and paraffin; rice contaminated with heavy metals, sausages made of rotten meat and fertilizer; and pork described as Tron blue because itglowed in the dark from bacteria (Pierson, 2011). Consumers are increasingly wary of the food products available at traditional market outlets. One response has been for consumers to grow their own or to purchase food from local markets where it is possible to meet and connect with the producer. Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) programs have exploded in popularity in part because consumers can connect with their farmer. In return for an upfront cost of roughly $300 to $600, customers receive a box of produce each week during the growing season. Vancouver based Inner City Farms has transformed 18 back, front, and side yards using an innovative design approach. The food is literally grown next door, making the whole growing process transparent, thus minimizing fears of food tampering. Inner City Farms hosts Meet Your Farmer events, where customers have the opportunity to discuss food production and methods with the organization, bringing individuals into the process and engaging customers concerns and interests. Urban agriculture brings the whole system of production within reach of the urban consumer. There are no factories and no secret, patented processes. It is an open system that helps to alleviate concerns of food safety (Inner City Farms, 2011). Each inner-city farm is expertly maintained and planted according to the firms design principles. Waves, instead of farm rows, bamboo fences, and ornamental planting all make Inner City Farms one of highest demanded urban farm organizations in the City of Vancouver. Owned by five young entrepreneurs, they employ one full time farmer. In their second season they have increased their customer base three fold to 60 CSA customers. More land has been donated to the organization than they can use.

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Why Urban Agriculture: Food Prices

Food prices have never been higher than they are now in 2011. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organizations Food Price Index has increased 157% since the year 2000 (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2011). Many factors act in concert to drive up the price of food and one of the most significant is the increasing price of oil (Pimentel et al., 1973). Oil is a major input to our food at every step in the industrial production system. As fuel prices increase, so too does the cost of our food. These increased prices impact families purchasing decisions. When it costs more to drive to the grocery store than the total value of the groceries, it is time to re-evaluate the food system. Vancouvers downtown east side is Canadas poorest postal code (Matas & Peritz, 2008). Many of its residents struggle with mental illness or substance dependence. SoleFood is an urban farm located on a half-acre parking lot in the downtown east side that is helping to reinvigorate the area. Using specially developed planting beds, and an intensive planting program, SoleFood is able to support its operating costs, including labor, through the sale of produce. As a social enterprise, SoleFood is dedicated to providing premium farm products to the Vancouver community to develop employment for residents of the downtown east side. In 2010, SoleFood was able to hire eight employees and hopes to hire twice that number in 2011. Though customers are excited to support a social enterprise, SoleFoods customers return because its produce is top quality. SoleFood has developed a business model that ensures that they have fresh, sustainable, local produce available where and when customers need it. They do not see their work as charity they see their mission as providing the best possible produce to customers. And they have been incredibly successful. Despite the achievement of many urban farming organizations, municipal areas abound with regulations in respect to the growing and selling of produce. As North American cities grew, city planners banished agricultural zoning from dense areas. As such it has been difficult for many organizations to operate in accordance with all of the regulations. Restrictions on greenhouse construction and farm stand sites make it difficult to fully develop necessary capital improvements to the land and find adequate market streams to sell produce.

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Why Urban Agriculture: Environment

The benefits provided by local food networks are immense, but many of these benefits are not easily measured in traditional market systems. The external costs of our industrial food system are only beginning to be tabulated as global climate change is recognized and we focus on the changes in our environment. Current agriculture processes contribute to the rapid depletion of fossil fuels, fresh water, and topsoil. For example, global fertilizer use has increased 4-fold per-capita from 1950 to 1998. The resulting excess nitrogen runoff contributes to eutrophication and hypoxia, causing dead-zones in many water bodies,

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including the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Land degradation from agriculture has consumed 550 million hectares of formerly arable land since World War II, an area equivalent to 38% of all farmland today. The environmental hazards caused by industrial food production also include ubiquitous pesticide and preservative use that contributes to a multitude of human health hazards, loss of biodiversity, and international deforestation (Horrigan, Lawrence, & Walker, 2002). The distance between food production and consumption provides environmental burdens of its own. Food needed for a year to sustain one average household requires the equivalent transportation of 1.2 tons of food 100,000 kilometers (Weber & Matthews, 2008). In the Waterloo region of Ontario, emissions caused by transit and production for the 10 major products of imported food equates to the annual equivalent of 16,918 vehicles on the road (Marc Xuereb, 2005). The demand for an alternative to industrially produced food is immense and many urban farmers are trying to satisfy those consumers. My Urban Farm is a small organization; with two part time employees growing sprouts for local consumption. My Urban Farm is bicycle-powered business. Product, from start to finish, is transported using bicycle. The produce is grown according the best organic practices, ensuring that there are no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. This urban farm is a first attempt to build an environmentally focused local food system. The growth of urban farming will help minimize industrial food production for intensive products and the impact they have on the environment.

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Loutet Park Urban Farm, City of North Vancouver

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Loutet Park Urban Farm, City of North Vancouver

As more people search out methods to connect their lifestyles to their environmental beliefs, many will begin to search out alternatives to industrial food. Municipalities, as landholders, will need to play an important role in helping citizens develop urban agriculture projects. However the road can be steep in finding land the city finds acceptable for urban farming. We propose thinking conceptually about the use of land in urban settings. What spaces are currently underutilized? Can farming provide a dual role for the city: maintaining green space and building community? What sites are currently unavailable for other development? Urban farms can be built on almost any surface using a variety of methods: container gardening systems, long-term soil building or importing soil. Though a new idea, it is possible to transform under used-space into aesthetically pleasing urban farmland. The plans can be flexible and the requirements are minimal, sunlight and water. Helping show how to do that will help to better make the case for an urban farm. The work that greenskins lab completed at Loutet Park Urban Farm is an example of the crucial role landscape architects can play in answering these questions. Greenskins lab, a landscape architecture research group at the University of British Columbia, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, became involved in the development of an urban farm in the City of North Vancouver on the West

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Coast of Canada at the beginning of 2009. Working with the city, they articulated a re-interpretation of the historic green necklace, a series of interconnecting parks and boulevards built in 1907 as part of the masterplan of the City of North Vancouver. These re-imagined parks support urban farming. The city would supply the land, while non-profit organizations would assume management of the farm, keeping any revenues generated from the sale of produce. Understanding if and how urban farming could be a financial success would drive the mission of the farm (Proksch, G., Roehr, 2010a)(Proksch, G., Roehr,
Green necklace

2010b). To begin the process, greenskins lab worked in close consultation with a

. University of
British Columbia

number of city councilors to understand the political and bureaucratic process for developing projects of this sort. In consultation with the city it was decided that Loutet Park Urban Farm would serve as a five-year case study to accrue more knowledge on the financial viability of this type of farming. For us, Loutet Farm was also an opportunity to test integration of urban farming into public space. To build any project and to integrate into the community, it is essential to build local partnerships. In our case, we partnered with the North Shore neighborhood House, a community development organization, and the Edible Garden Project, an organization with farming knowledge and experience. These community groups took ownership of the Loutet Park Urban Farm and became the formal intermediary between the city and the community. Two part-time farmers were hired by the North Shore Neighborhood House to develop farm plans and rotations. Professional farmers are an essential part of a successful urban farm. Plant growth and development are different in each location. Ensuring that urban farmers are comfortable with the season and are able to adjust and change their farm plan as needed, can help make the difference between financial success and failure. Furthermore, by providing employment, the space immediately begins giving back to the community. The farmers helped greenskins lab to create designs for a working yet aesthetically pleasing space. Armed with more information and design concepts, greenskins lab was able to paint a picture of urban agriculture in North Vancouver, thereby creating more interest in the project

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Edible Garden Project

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Loutet axonometric

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from residents, officials, and corporate sponsors. It was evident that the initial concept of Loutet Park changed over time and in response to the community of which it is a part. Three key lessons were learned throughout this process. First, aesthetic coherence, when not mandated by the municipality is difficult to achieve. Food production and farming has its own set of aesthetics that often contradict with the design concepts of parks and gardens of urban centers. Building tools to help bridge that gap will help further the development of urban farming. Second, securing appropriate funding for projects of this size is difficult. The private realm has been incredibly generous through financial and in-kind donations. Funding the initial build remains a high hurdle for many urban farming projects. Academic research grants are only now beginning to funnel this way as researchers become more aware of entrepreneurial programs. Thirdly, volunteers are critical. A consistent core group of committed volunteers are necessary to organize and support any urban farm project. Whether through building, planting, or security, community involvement is an essential part of any urban farm. It is imperative to spend time and capital building that community. Landscape architects can and should assist in building new designs for urban food production and helping create policies that structure how farms should be built. Guidelines and frameworks can help urban farmers build spaces that beautify and connect the community in addition to focusing on food production and economic rejuvenation. As more parkland comes under consideration for urban farming, it will become increasingly important to

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build specific guidelines integrating such programs into the existing structures of the park. Landscape architects should help develop those guidelines. The greatest role for landscape architects is to help articulate a vision for urban farms, helping cities and individuals first see what these projects can be and how they can design them.

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Urban Farming
People are clamoring for a way to connect with their food. An increased awareness of systemic problems with our food systems has led to a grassroots approach to urban agriculture across North America, resulting in diverse and creative means of addressing
Loutet Farm

questions of food equity and food quality. The Urban landscape is not as concrete as it seems. Community gardening provides an incredible opportunity for neighbors and community members to develop relationships through shared work. Urban farming is different. Its practitioners work long days and often nights to reap and sow, package and market. They are transforming the city through more than just their productive use of the land. Urban farmers are developing local food markets and producing food choice just by showing up at the market. Both local rural and urban farms build a market where citizens can use dollars to vote for local businesses over national chains, environmentally sustainable food over conventional agriculture, and a food culture that values its producers. When beneficial social programs also make good business sense, there is true possibility for change. Place those values on opposite sides of the debate and it becomes virtually impossible to move forward. Urban farming connects two important goals: food sustainability and economic profit. In the coming weeks and months, greenskins lab and other researchers at the University of British Columbia will monitor Loutet Park Urban Farm, along with a number of other urban farms in the City of Vancouver to understand how these organizations operate their businesses. This information will prepare other cities and municipalities to build urban farms and marry both sustainability and economic development.

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