Thursday, August 20, 2015

There Is No Such Thing As Urban Farming

I know this is going to dent my good liberal credentials, but I really just don't understand this concept. "Urban farms" are either large commercial gardens - great! - or reclamations of urban spaces which are no longer urban spaces - great too! But neither are urban farms.

If it's large enough to really be considered a farm, as opposed to a large commercial garden, it isn't urban. By definition. If there's enough agricultural land in an urban area to make even a dent in the food needs of the people in that area, it isn't an urban area.

I'm not just nitpicking here. Farming, and not just modern industrial farming, is a large scale endeavor. A few acres of plants does not qualify as a farm. It's a commercial garden. Great! Just not the same thing.

A 5 acre farm urban garden is 467x467 feet. That's less than 1/10 of a mile x 1/10 of a mile. It ain't a farm.