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In
the great continuum of human economic and structural
progression we are reaching a point where the
space and relative arability we have left ourselves
to grow food is dwindling. A continuance of
the traditional growing practices that we currently
adhere to will lead us further down this slippery
slope to a point in the not so distant future
where our Food
Security may be called into question. This is
Urban Agriculture's calling.
It is a
part of the human condition to proliferate,
or more directly, urban sprawl. This makes sense
in terms of needing more space for people, but
why do we need to develop new space to grow
food? Why not utilize areas, facilities, and
materials we have available to us for food production?
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Everyone can
think of lots and spaces in their town where there
is or can be no development. Many of these are deemed
Superfund sites or Brownfields. They essentially stand
idle because they are undevelopable or the soil is
toxic for historical reasons. Why not utilize hydroponics,
a means of separating food production from ambient
environments, in these areas?
In the book,
"Going Local", author Michael Shuman points
out that Urban Agriculture is catching on across the
planet. "Some 800 million people in the world
who live in cities are engaged in urban agriculture,
mainly for their own consumption. In Hong Kong, which
has extraordinary population density, nearly half
of all vegetables consumed are grown within city limits,
on 5 percent to 6 percent of the city's land.... Residents
of Kampala, Uganda, meet 70 percent of their poultry
and egg consumption with local production. Data from
the 1980s suggests that the eighteen largest cities
in China met over 90 percent of their vegetable needs,
and half their meat needs through urban farming. And
Singapore raises 80 percent of its poultry and a quarter
of its vegetables, within city limits."
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Obviously,
societies that experience a lack of Food Security
will adhere to these methods before others,
but the idea is ingenious.
Utilize
heat from manufacturing plants to heat greenhouses
year round. Or catch your rainwater for re-use.
Or implement solar energy into your power structure.
Use whats around you. If a guy can raise 800-pounds
of fish every year in his apartment in the Bronx
then the sky is the limit!
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