Urban Agriculture: A Necessary Step in the Fight for Environmental Justice
Anna Whiting
Urban and low-income communities are being left behind. 10.5% of all households in the US experienced food insecurity in 2019. That number jumped up to 15.6% for Hispanic households and almost doubled to 19.1% for Black households. Furthermore, urban communities are far more likely to experience food insecurity than people living in the suburbs. This is largely due to low wages and the existence of food deserts: areas where there is limited or no access to affordable, nutritious food, often due to long distances between grocery stores and lack of accessible transportation. Urban agriculture provides an answer to some of these problems, but is not the be-all, end-all solution to environmental racism and food insecurity. When combined with the philosophy of food sovereignty, anti-capitalism, and community engagement, urban agriculture provides a necessary solution to food injustice and increases agricultural sustainability while supplying food in low-income areas.
Urban agriculture sounds oxymoronic, but it is actually relatively widespread and modern ideas of urban agriculture have existed since the early 19th century. Although it was previously used most frequently during times of war or famine, it has become more widespread. Urban agriculture can include a wide variety of concepts, from rooftop gardens to urban beekeeping and even animal husbandry (the two most common are chickens and sheep). There can be entire buildings dedicated to agriculture, or something on a smaller scale, like a garden on a rooftop or even built into the wall of a building. It is considered an alternative to the current agricultural system, which is less sustainable and is largely controlled by corporations, rather than small-scale farmers and volunteer-based community garden programs. There are various benefits to urban agriculture that allow us to help people in our communities and improve the environment around us.
Urban agriculture provides various environmental benefits to communities such as decreasing emissions and increasing soil and water quality. Urban agriculture would allow people to grow more food using the same amount of space by using existing buildings or green spaces. Additionally, they are more energy efficient than large-scale farms because they do not have to transport the food long distances, since the community growing the food is the same community that is benefiting from it. Therefore, emissions and energy usage decrease. Urban farms provide a carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. The plants on these urban farms also suck up rainwater, reducing runoff that can put pollutants into water supplies. The environmental benefits of urban agriculture are great, especially when urban areas, predominantly those with majority Black or Hispanic populations are most subject to environmental racism and pollution.
Even besides the environmental benefits, urban agriculture provides various socioeconomic benefits: it increases food security, can bring communities closer together, and takes power away from large agricultural companies and puts it back in the hands of grassroots organizations and the people who actually eat the food that is being produced. Urban agriculture provides a way for people to access fresh fruits and vegetables, and sometimes even meat products, at reduced prices or for free. This becomes especially important in food deserts because this provides a way for people to access nutritious food when they might not otherwise be able to.. For people experiencing poverty, increases in food costs can have immense effects on their lives, so cheap or free food can make a huge impact.. When people are less worried about where their food is coming from or how they are going to access nutritious meals, their mental health can improve greatly. Additionally, urban agriculture can provide a way for communities to come closer together. People work together towards a common goal and have positive social interactions with each other. These farms and gardens can provide a community position for people who want one, and this has been linked to greater feelings of connection and camaraderie within communities.
One of the greatest benefits of urban agriculture is the principle of food sovereignty; it allows the people who grow and eat food to control the food, rather than large corporations, who only care about profit and not about the people whom they directly impact. Food sovereignty is defined as all people, including those who grow food all the way to those who consume food, having the right to take back their power in its production, rather than having large corporations treat food like a commodity. It is not that there is a lack of food in the world; it’s that corporations don’t care about people’s access to nutritious food and only care about their own bottom line. Food sovereignty also holds that control of food systems should exist locally and should work with nature, rather than changing the land to meet the needs of corporations. Urban agriculture does exactly this: it puts the power of food production back into the hands of the people and local communities. Rather than focusing on profits, it focuses on providing affordable and nutritious food to local communities. The farms and gardens are controlled directly by the people who produce, distribute, and consume the food. With urban agriculture, we take power away from corporations and put it back in the hands of communities that have been denied that power for far too long.
Unfortunately, capitalism means that none of these benefits can be fully realized under our current system. However, by addressing some of these issues within our current system, we can help Black, Hispanic, and low-income communities regain power over their own neighborhoods and food. A major problem with urban agriculture is simply finding the resources to start a community or rooftop garden. Since many communities where urban agriculture projects are most needed already struggle due to a lack of economic power, it can be difficult to purchase the supplies needed to begin a community garden or rooftop farm. One solution to this, however, would be mutual aid, where people who are able give money or supplies in order to help their community and people who are in need of support. However, an unfortunate side effect of urban agriculture is environmental gentrification: as new green spaces are established in a neighborhood, the property value increases, leading wealthier residents to move into the neighborhood, forcing out people who were simply trying to better themselves and their neighborhoods. This takes power and money away from the communities that are most marginalized to begin with. So, urban agriculture alone cannot solve our problems. While it does address some problems that exist, it will not fix the underlying problem of environmental racism and gentrification. While urban agriculture may help, we need to invest resources into these communities and support grassroots organizations working to truly stop these issues. Urban agriculture, while helpful, is only part of the solution.
Addressing food insecurity and environmental racism is not something that can be done by simply implementing urban agriculture programs, but it is a necessary step in addressing these problems. It is not until we dismantle the current capitalist system that these problems can be even close to fully eradicated. However, urban agriculture, when combined with food sovereignty and mutual aid can provide a sustainable way for people with low incomes to access food, reduce emissions, and increase soil and water quality. When even something as simple as access to food and water is commodified, it becomes revolutionary to take back power and provide your community with some of the resources it needs.
Anna Whiting (she/her) is a junior at Westerville North High School. She is passionate about organizing and hopes to pursue a career in civil rights law. Outside of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, she is also involved in theatre, tutoring, mock trial, and Global Scholars. She hopes that we all continue fighting because there is a lot to be fighting for.
