Urban Agriculture Conference at The New York Horticultural Society
Love and urban agriculture have so much in common.
Think about it.
Just like the early stages of love – meaning there is the
flirtatious gamble on exciting, new confrontations, the early passion, and
the-where-have-you-been-all-my-life affirming commitment – so it is not off the
mark to read the opening sentence on the flyer for The Horticultural Society of
New York’s (HSNY) www.thehort.org
recent conference on Urban Agriculture where it posits the question,
“Is Urban Farming here for the long haul, or just the latest iteration of a ‘back
to the land’ reflex that occurs whenever the nation or economy is threatened?” to
see the parallelisms of love and urban farming and long-term relationships.
This manifesto of sorts could be the opening salvo of an
online dating strategy. (Substitute You for Urban Farming and
back to the land for the steady lover and you catch the drift!)
But when it comes to Urban Ag, HSNY is all business. They are no one-night stand! The organization rightfully claims they have
been cultivating urban gardeners since 1902 – so they are the Oprah-like poster
child of long-term commitment and can claim a home field advantage on this
subject.
Urban Agriculture
Conference
It was an energized, cosmopolitan-peppy, sold-out audience
that filled the Hort’s midtown headquarters for the all-day educational and
entertaining event.
Anticipation fairly crackled as attendees greeted one another
-- eagerly embracing the too-early (i.e. hot) spring – and each other -- while
serving up the healthy breakfast provided by The Hort.
Overheard clutches of conversation were riffs on the themes:
“Can you believe the herbs are up already?” to “There’ll be hell to pay with
the ‘bugs’ this summer” to “My clients think we should start planting annuals now!” and “Does anyone need more proof
of climate change??”
All rather natty horticulture exchanges, don’t you think?
The Urban Ag
Conference Line Up
The day’s agenda was a “Who’s Who” of urban farming and
gardening.
As an aside, does one read a difference in those terms or is
the urban environment where the two acts: gardening and farming are rendered
two sides of the same coin?
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| George Pisegna, Director of Hort, Introduces Conference at The Hort |
George Pisegna, Director of Horticulture and the genius who
toils to put these fascinating programs together opened up the Conference.
Thomas Fox, Keynoter and author of “Urban Farming: Sustainable City
Living in Your Backyard, in Your Community, and in the World,” (available
at Amazon http://tiny.cc/fvmkcw and on the
Kindle. I got that version) was the ideal candidate to address the audience
with his talk:
“Urban Farming in
2012: Anything New Under the Sun?”
Following a delicious and equally healthy lunch was the
Panel Discussion, moderated by Camilla Hammer, Farm Manager, Battery Urban Farm
The Battery Conservancy
Panelists: Erika Brenner, Farm Educator Dekalb Farm
Annie Novak, Founder and Director, Growing Chefs
Phyllis Odessey, Director of Horticulture, Randall’s Island
Park
Eun Young Sebazco, Horticulture Manager, Randall’s Island
Park
Britta Riley, CEO and Founder, Windowfarms
Zach Pickens, Farm Manager, Riverpark Farm at Alexandria
Center
Keynote
Tom started the book in 2001; finished it in 2010.
His talk was as much about the making of the book as it
parallels the evolution of the world of urban farms as it was about the state of urban
farming.
The moniker “urban farming” didn’t even exist when he
started his research and writing, he said.
There was a Brooklyn rooftop farm, and the first urban CSA
and pretty much nothing else. His
research took him from no material to everyone’s doing it, with urban farming-as-phenomena.
His book opens with the Google search results that go from
three to thousands…
So what is creating this new status of urban framing?
Tom outlined what’s driving Urban Ag, with the starting gate
of 2011:
1. The attacks on the World Trade Center caused many New Yorkers to move away. He cited a friend who relocated to Atlanta and subsequently felt drawn “back to the land.” But then she also realized “food as crop” and was dissatisfied, nay disgusted with the choice of perishable food being offered for sale.
She asked, “Is this the legacy we want to leave to our
children?” She came to farm her food.
2. Wars and economic problems - there is precedence of this crisis that leads
to gardening. Think Victory Gardens. The recent recession jumpstarted the practice
of urban gardening. In any economic
crisis there is a want (need?) to grow our own food to save money.
3. China and the World Trade Organization –First we lost a
lot of jobs when we stopped being the people who made things with our hands,
leaving that to China and things like food here became cheap.
4. Climate Change – It
rains less frequently but more intensely and this is bad for agriculture. Climate change will continue and will only
get worse. Tom said we can see the affects
climate change has created and called out proof of its consequences in an
article he found in an insurance industry press story on this – noting it was not
covered in the popular press.
This discovery caused quite a stir in that business is
already baking the climate change element into their spreadsheets and yet the
mass population is not even accepting the fact that climate change exists!
Moreover, there is a land grab presently going on in Africa,
according to Tom.
Rain-fed cropland is already being farmed. Now, so many
resource-poor countries are buying up millions of acres to lock in their land
insurance for growing food.
The land grab effort underscores a country’s insecurity.
Tom continued: The Slow Food movement started in Europe and
like past immigrants, soon made its way to the US.
The organization is a grass roots effort to promote local
food traditions and to combat industrial and unsafe food practices. www.slowfood.com
In 2003 Europe reacted to its Mad Cow disease but scientists
still can’t figure out where the cow came from due to the complicated fabric of
cross-networked food sources.
Now the Slow Food movement is making its way to China in
reaction to its health scares and as a partial solution to that country’s food
scandals, including salmonella outbreaks in eggs there – that are shipped
elsewhere…
“It’s all very disturbing,” lamented Tom. “All these examples point up the
precariousness of our food supply.”
Part of the allure of urban farming is to reclaim the food
supply.
Food Mantra
Food is radical. Food is power.
“This is a mantra that can be applied to most every urban
farming experience,” claims Tom. “If you don’t control the food, you don’t
control life.”
Most of this country’s “life” or food – comes from
California’s Central Valley, and Latin and South America.
But, Tom suggests, fruits and vegetable can be grown locally.
At this point, he noted the rice that was grown at Randall’s
Island.
We’d learn more about this successful, revolutionary urban
farming experience later from Eun Young and Phyllis – the Randall’s Island food
farming heroines and geniuses behind this brave and creative experiment.
From a perspective of cultural anthropology, Tom pointed out
the history of how farming changed mid-century -- after World War II.
At that time, it was considered a favor to get people off the farm. Working with one’s hands
is wonderful yes, but tough.
Here, Tom showed a Gifford Pinchot sign he came across that
celebrated this notion: getting farmers out of the mud and onto paved roads!
As in ‘preaching to the choir, Tom said the pendulum has
swung the other way – and we now have nearly every city practicing urban
farming.
There are generations of kids who have been exposed to
growing their own food through the efforts of passionate citizens and organizations
including public parks: i.e. Randall’s Island, botanic gardens, and
GreenMarkets. “Often, these kids go off to
become professional farmers,” said Tom.
Cities have built-in advantages, he said. There is the ‘heat-island’ affect that can
extend the growing seasons.
In addition, cities can offer protection from winds and
provide ready access to technology to better implement farming approaches such
as hydroponics, and drip irrigation and greenhouses and window farms.
“In many ways, urban farms are more efficient than rural
areas.”
He cited Lake Mead where the water levels have been steadily
dropping due to less than average snowfall feeding the Colorado River. Can’t miss that bathtub ring badge of water
loss.
The Ogallala aquifer supplies 30% of the country’s total
irrigation water and yet its waters have been so tapped that the trees there
are drying up, Tom noted.
This aquifer, by the way, nourishes the “breadbasket of
America” and has been dragged back unwillingly into the news recently because
there are those who argue to allow the construction of the Keystone pipeline to
carry oil to the Houston refineries from Canada, thereby increasing the risk,
to say the least, for environmental disaster and loss of food security. Does anyone remember the Gulf oil spill?
And India has frequent blackouts due to the strain put on
the grid by the overwhelming use of water pumps needed to extract water…
Metrics
OK, so the audience was already sold on the idea of urban
farming, and were spellbound by the history and stories of farming romance
engendered by working with the land…
Now the pragmatics were wondering about that place where the
road hits the rubber, er, tractor tire.
How much money can one expect to make or how much yield will
urban farming produce??
Tom says 20-30 pounds of tomatoes and cited Gotham Greens
and others who claim they can earn $50K on a half-acre to 100 tons of produce
yield from one-third acre.
It all depends on the way the land is farmed.
Shanghai, for example has a population of 23 million and
produces 90% of its eggs and 50% of its chickens and pork, and more than two
metric tons of wheat and rice. “Something to aspire to,” he noted.
New York has 52,000 acres of back yards.
An exciting development is “Distributed Farms” – where farmers
do a lot of work on homeowners’ space who set aside land for farmers to work
their land, with the homeowners having shares – similar to a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
This could be a Home Supported Agriculture or a HAS!
Further, New York City has 14,000 un-shaded rooftop that can
be farmed. This can also be considered an added advantage for building owners
and landlords because the rooftop farms offer insulation that can benefit
heating and cooling costs.
There is 11,000 acres of brownfields and vacant lots in NYC.
Riverpark – celebrity chef Tom Colicchio’s Kips Bay
restaurant overlooks a garden that was a “stalled” commercial development and is
a good example of this enterprise.
In general, it was noted edibles can be grown in containers
and raised beds to safeguard against ground pollutants, as is done at
Riverpark’s farm.
Just look around – food can be grown most everywhere: in community
gardens, patio containers and windowsills and on fire escapes – (the last being
illegal, of course, and shouldn’t be promoted as a place to grow anything.)
Talk about Job
Creators
Unlike some big shots, who claim they know business only to
lay off workers or shut down plants, farming on the other hand does indeed
generate jobs.
Tom said it is a difficult metric to determine, but delighted
the audience not only with his research and results, but also in his sheer
pluckiness in finding the data in a Kellogg Foundation Report from which he
extrapolated his work.
So here it goes: The
USDA says for every $1 million in sales, 13 jobs per million are created so
therefore, urban farming can expect to provide 13,000 jobs!
Major cities that can contribute to urban farming jobs are
Detroit, San Francisco, Boston and New York that combined are one-third of the
US population.
“It’s an Agricultural Disneyland” Tom declared.
How to Foster an
Agricultural Disneyland – and get a Tool Library!
No “Land of the Future” amusement here, rather buying locally
grown food and encouraging local restaurants that support local farms.
“It is a great cachet for the restaurants,” said Tom. “And many of the chefs get to help determine
what’s grown – so they get an exclusive” to offer to the customer.
Another way to get urban farming going is to recognize zoning
laws need to change. City planners need to
consider the height of buildings; consider having limits not apply to
greenhouses. “We could be looking at
12,000 acres of commercial rooftop use for farms,” noted Tom.
Our goal should be 15% of our food supply be grown in our
own breadbasket. We can even grow apples -- just like they do on Randall’s
Island, he observed.
“Start with vegetables as opposed to livestock, “ grinned
Tom while offering another tip to get urban farming in place.
Push for more community gardens and farmers markets with Tool
Libraries as GrowNYC has. www.grownyc.org
Tool Libraries?
What a great idea.
Tool libraries lend the garden instruments needed to till the land and
can reduce overhead costs for start up efforts.
Another kick-starter is to allow for cottage
industries. For example, the Bronx
Community Farm wanted to sell their produce but didn’t have a way to do
business with a GreenMarket. But after
the city lent a hand, the Farm can now sell food commercially and make money to
fund their operations.
Sure to enable urban agriculture is to support Farm to
School programs to promote nutrition, careers, etc.
Note: many master chefs recognize cooking is transformative
– they work diligently for children’s gardening programs including chefs that
are featured in this Examiner’s book, Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown
Cookbook http://tiny.cc/4zjhbw
For example, chefs Bryan Futerman and Joe Realmuto build
greenhouses and teach cooking and sponsor fundraising for their Spring
Seedlings Project they spearheaded in 2008 to teach kids about growing their
own food and quality of what they cook and eat.
http://www.thespringsseedlings.org/index.php
Here’s a nice story about their efforts in the East Hampton
Patch:
Chef Bill Telepan’s Wellness in Schools (WITS) helps city schools
produce healthy menus. Other Celebrity chefs, including Marcus Samuelson, lend
a hand to teach and train school kitchen staffs. WITS aims to foster “healthy
eating, environmental awareness and fitness as a way of life for kids in NYC
public schools. http://wellnessintheschools.org/
What’s on the Horizon?
When asked what’s new under the sun, Tom delivered on the
keynote’s headline provocation and didn’t hesitate to say he thinks there is
great momentum, there are more ways to engage and to complement traditional agriculture
along with plenty of ways to be sustainable.
He also offered examples of successful Distributed Networks
and shared the fact that Bryerson in Canada has a Distance Learning program.
He believes the future of urban construction and urban farms
will be part and parcel of each other.
Urban farms will have become part of the construction building criteria
and lexicon.
Agri-Tourism will become a popular form of travel
entertainment, too.
For more information from Tom and his world of Urban
Farming, visit his website:
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| Tom Fox, author & Urban Ag Conference Keynote Speaker |
Next up is the Panel Discussion review filled with insight
and tips from “some of the most productive and innovative projects in the
city’s urban farming community,” as profiled in The Hort’s flyer.
They should know.