Sustain / City Harvest / Benefits
Environment
Growing food in cities has many positive effects on the environment and lots of urban agriculture projects have clear environmental objectives as part of their primary aims.
Producing and consuming food in close proximity as in a city helps reduce food miles and packaging and offers the opportunity for efficient waste recycling through composting schemes. The organic nature of many urban agriculture projects helps decrease reliance on oil based agrochemicals, improve soil quality and reduce contamination. Converting urban land to green space also increases biodiversity, improves air quality and prevents habitat destruction when the countryside is converted to cropland. Additionally the educational aspect of many urban agriculture projects raises public awareness of environmental issues and can create green jobs.
Below is a list of publications and projects that demonstrate environment benefits of urban agriculture.
Latest environment publications
- Above the Pavement-the Farm!: Architecture & Agriculture at Public Farm 1
- Agromere, the virtual urban-rural district in Almere (NL)
- Agromere: Integrating urban agriculture in the development of the city of Almere
- Urban agriculture and local food production: feeding our cities future
- Urban Agriculture Guide
City Harvest: The City Harvest website collects information on the wide range of benefits associated with urban agriculture, aiming to strengthen the movement in the UK and across the globe.
