7 Urban Agriculture Projects That Will Inspire You
Did you know that roughly 15–20% of the world’s food is grown or produced in urban areas? According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, urban farms help supply food to some 800 million people living in cities around the globe. Given that the world’s rapidly growing population is expected to become increasingly urbanized in the decades to come, urban agriculture could help fill a vital gap for many city dwellers when it comes to accessing fresh, nutritious, and secure sources of food.
From vertical farms to community-based gardening programs, read on for a look at seven inspiring international urban agriculture projects.
Canberra City Farm (Canberra, Australia)
Located in Australia’s capital city, Canberra City Farm isn’t just growing fresh produce, it’s also growing knowledge and experience. In addition to being a working farm, Canberra City Farm is a hub for urban agriculture education. In pursuit of its vision to create a community that can live in harmony with the environment, the non-profit organization offers a broad range of workshops, training sessions, and knowledge sharing opportunities around organic agriculture, sustainable living, and transitioning from backyard gardening to larger-scale growing activities.
Detroit Dirt (Detroit, Michigan)
Because urban farms are typically created from scratch in locations that aren’t exactly known for their fertile, arable land, many farms must rely on compost to boost the quality of the soil they use to grow their crops. This is where organizations like Detroit Dirt come in. With a mission to create a zero-waste mindset throughout communities, Detroit Dirt is dedicated to organic waste recovery and reuse. The organization partners with companies like General Motors, local breweries, and even zoos to collect food and other organic waste, which they then transform into high-quality compost: a valuable resource for Detroit’s urban farms and gardens.
Ferme de Paris (Paris, France)
Spread out over five hectares in one of the many expansive parks situated on the periphery of Paris, La Ferme de Paris has been helping Parisians get up close and personal with urban agriculture for 30 years. Featuring vegetable gardens, orchards, and farm animals from goats to rabbits, La Ferme de Paris is one of the city’s most popular showcases for the benefits that local agriculture can offer. The farm receives nearly 50,000 visitors per year, and also sends a “mobile farm unit” out into different Paris neighborhoods every month.
Fresh & Local (Mumbai, India)
Even in a city as large and dense as Mumbai — the city has a metropolitan population of about 21 million people — there is still plenty of underutilized space to be found, mainly on the flat rooftops of city buildings. Over the past decade, some of these rooftops have been transformed into urban gardens with the help of Fresh & Local, an organization launched in 2010 by organic food advocate and activist Adrienne Thadani. Through workshops and programs held at its urban agriculture teaching center, Fresh & Local has inspired and supported more than 2,000 people in Mumbai and beyond to establish rooftop gardening facilities and to build community at the same time.
Frisch vom Dach (Berlin, Germany)
Another organization taking advantage of unused rooftop space is the Frisch vom Dach (“fresh from the roof”) project, which was launched in Berlin several years ago by a small team of German agro-entrepreneurs. Housed on the enormous, 7,000-square-meter roof of a former malt factory, Frisch vom Dach is an ambitious aquaponics operation, producing both fish and vegetables on-site in a sustainable, closed-loop system. To save on resources, the team behind the facility is repurposing as many things from the former factory as they can. For example, the tanks in which the fish are raised are the large vats that once served to dry the barley for the malt factory.
Local Sprout (San Antonio, Texas)
Local Sprout is one of the growing number of urban agriculture operations that are using hydroponic methods to produce fresh, pesticide-free crops. The organization grows some of its produce in a container farm fully equipped with a hydroponic system: some at an expansive grow space in partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank, and some at its collaborative headquarters, shared with a number of small food businesses, known as the Food Hub. Through these and other initiatives, Local Sprout pursues its simple but bold mission of connecting eaters with as much local, sustainable food as possible.
O’Hare International Airport Urban Garden (Chicago, Illinois)
Aeroponic growing is a farming technique in which plants are grown in air, rather than soil or water, and are nourished through regular applications of a nutrient-rich mist. This alternative technique is the system of choice at the innovative indoor urban farm housed in the Rotunda Building of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The farm’s 26 vertical towers house more than 1,100 plants: primarily herbs, greens, and tomatoes that are used by many of the airport’s restaurants.
