World Ark Magazine - January/February 2008 - (Page 36) Urban farming is not relegated only to poor countries. It is becoming more common even in large cities like Kyoto, Japan. the congested environment on industrial farms.” While there needs to be a place for raising animals in cities, industrial farming within cities is an inhumane and ecologically disruptive way of producing meat. A 2005 report by the World Bank echoed this, noting that the “extraordinary proximate concentration of people and livestock poses probably one of the most serious environmental and public health challenges for the coming decades.” One way to prevent the problems that plague industrial livestock production is to discourage factory farming in or near cities. A recent FAO report suggests a combination of zoning and land use regulations, along with taxes, incentives and infrastructure development that can encourage producers to raise animals closer to croplands, where manure can be used as fertilizer and where there is less risk of disease. According to FAO, figuring out where the best places are to produce livestock can help control land and livestock nutrient imbalances—in other words, raising livestock in areas that have enough land to handle waste. Thailand, for example, puts high taxes on largescale poultry production within 62 miles of Bangkok, while giving farmers outside that zone tax-free status. Thanks to this, the concentration of poultry farms right outside of Bangkok has dropped significantly over the last decade. FARMING AS A WAY OF CITY LIFE Despite all that farming can do for the city landscape and the urban soul, politicians, businesses and planners continue to regard food as a rural issue that does not demand the same attention as housing, crime or transportation. This stubborn mindset partly explains the “piecemeal approach” to planning for city food systems, according to a study from the Department of Geography and Urban Planning at Wayne State University in Michigan. Urban planners around the world viewed gardens and farmland within city limits as an anachronism, not to be found in a “modern city.” In many cities, farming has been outlawed. Policymakers would be wise to realize the nutritional, social, ecological and economic benefits of reversing this mindset and putting programs in place to encourage cities to feed themselves. Planners interested in making room for farming in cities must look beyond farmers’ markets and community gardens to much deeper issues of a city’s design. An extensive light rail system that reduces the need for highways, or a municipal composting site While Heifer International’s work has traditionally been in rural areas, as the world’s population becomes more urban, we are responding. Here are a few of our urban projects. You can find more information about all of our projects online at www.heifer.org/map. EarthShare Farm Winnipeg, Canada Immigrants put their agricultural know-how to use in their new urban surroundings. Heifer provides a farm site, seeds, equipment and training to allow new Canadians to contribute to the local food system. 36 January/February 2008 | WORLD ARK www.heifer.org http://www.heifer.org/map http://www.heifer.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.