Overgrown: What happens when urban farms get too big?
Interesting item in Grist about urban farming becoming too big. Some people are apparently worried that urban farming is going to transform cities into something other than cities, with large green spaces making it less like a city, less urban.
I’m not sure that’s going to be a real problem. What’s making the expansion of urban farming possible is the poor economy with little or no demand for land inside of cities. Just about every city in the country is sitting on large amounts of abandoned property. But as the economy improves, the demand for land inside of city limits will begin to increase, pricing the property out of the reach of most would-be urban farmers.
Suzie’s FarmChildren tour the 140-acre Suzie’s Farm in San Diego.
Environmentalists have grown used to thinking of urban agriculture as something that occurs on pinched vacant lots in former industrial towns. But as farms of 20 acres or more start appearing in more cities, their owners are reworking the definition of “urban farm,” and causing some agtivists to question whether bigger really is better.
In San Diego, there’s the 140-acre Suzie’s Farm. In Albuquerque, there is 40-acre Skarsgard Farms. Not only are both located within the city limits, they both grew more than $1 million in organic produce this season.
The success of such farms, combined with urban agriculture’s broad appeal, is inspiring city officials to consider dedicating large chunks of vacant land to farming.
In San Francisco, redevelopment plans for the former Navy base on Treasure Island include an “urban agriculture park” of more than 20 acres, according to Michael Tymoff, the project director. In Cleveland, a 26-acre farming district has taken root where houses once stood. In Kansas City, Mo., leaders are considering turning a 420-acre former prison, or some portion thereof, into a farm.
“We believe that there is room for both food system-related uses as well as more ‘traditional’ types of development” at the site, says Gerald Williams, a planner with the City of Kansas City. Depending on how much land Williams and his colleagues ultimately dedicate to agriculture, they may be building the biggest urban farm in the country.
This is inspiring. Why has it taken so long?
