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NYC Encourages Urban Gardening and Regional Food
Cuba’s experience with urban farming has been exemplary. It has massively increased its food production, cut down on the ecological and economic costs of shipping food to the cities, and opened up green spaces and jobs—all with practically no carbon emissions. The word “revolution” is not inappropriate.
So who's next for an agricultural sea-change? Somewhat surprisingly, it may be New York City.
The strikingly progressive Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, has just published a report entitled “Food in the Public Interest: How New York City’s Food Policy Holds the Key to Hunger, Health, Jobs and the Environment.”
The report, rich with detail and prescription, outlines preliminary steps toward a pretty good food policy for New York, braiding together some familiar strands: the environment, sustainable development, local food, and the importance of diet. Indeed, part of what makes the report so compelling as a model for examining urban food policy is its comprehensiveness, emphasizing that hunger is intertwined with the problems of food security and food justice.
One key recommendation calls for “identifying and maximizing our regional ‘foodshed,’ the 200-mile or so radius of farmland surrounding the city.” While it acknowledges that New York won’t be able to draw all its food from that 400-mile wide circle, it emphasizes doing so to the maximum extent possible.
The city's foodshed contains most of New York State, Connecticut, and New Jersey, as well as chunks of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. According to the USDA census, that's well over 50,000 farms. There are already more than 100 farmers’ markets in New York City; Greenmarket's venues—including the always bustling Union Square market—draw more over 200 upstate farmers to the city every weekend.
Localizing food production is important, and the report’s emphasis on regional food-sheds suggests serious thinking.
The bioregional vision, popularized by environmental writer Kirkpatrick Sale, means reducing greenhouse gas emissions tied to transportation—up to 10 percent of some food’s total GHG emissions—and weaving a tighter, more localized economic net that doesn’t rely on supply lines running thousands of miles. 
The report further emphasizes the need for reducing reliance on vehicles and implementing a “model to reward distributors and truckers who use hybrid technology and clean fuels.”
The report, which was the fruit of a Columbia University conference that Stringer organized called The Politics of Food, calls for streamlining the use of food stamps at farmer’s markets and CSAs—Community Supported Agriculture—in order to funnel federal food allotments into purchasing local food. It also recommends subsidizing community food partnerships, and creating zoning incentives for stores to open that will supply fresh food to “food deserts.”
It also calls for the creation of urban gardens and the use of parkland for growing crops. One recommendation is to “conduct comprehensive research on sustainable urban farming methods to identify which techniques, scale and locations are most appropriate for the city’s urban conditions,” including city parks and rooftops. It also calls for pressuring the federal government to implement a carrot-stick approach to make the transportation system more GHG-efficient.
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All Love in the neighborHood
Since 2009 in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, Yonnette Fleming has been cooking up something good for the community at the Hattie Carthan Community Market every Saturday. Using homegrown herbs and vegetables from the garden, the recipes are a hundred percent authentic and inspiring. Yet, something even more special is brewing- a feast to those who nurture nature. Ms. Fleming is hosting a celebration for the farmy folks in all of us, their first annual Farmy Folks Soiree. This family function is on Saturday November 13th, from 6pm to 10pm, right around the corner from the garden on Clifton Place and Marcy Avenue. Farmy films and folk music will be the pulse of the event, guiding us right to the 2010 harvest review of the Hattie Carthan Market. A formal tribute to those who have helped out at the garden with their hard work and time toward building something positive for the community.
Tickets are $25 and can be bought at the market or on www.wix.com/frankness/forthefarmyfolks
But you don’t have to wait until then to enjoy autumn in the garden. Their Pumpkin Fest is this Saturday and they have plenty of treasures to hunt and pumpkins to carve if you’re up for it! In commemoration of Halloween, the day of the dead, there will be an art exhibit honoring food as essential for remembering the dead. Festivities go from 9am until 4pm. Expect fresh seasonal treats like mulled cider and pumpkin bread. Costumes are welcome!
Doing Justice in the neighborHood.
Since 2009 in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, Yonnette Fleming has been cooking up something good for the community at the Hattie Carthan Community Market every Saturday. Using homegrown herbs and vegetables from the garden, the recipes are a hundred percent culturally authentic and inspiring. She hosts community health consciousness workshops, baking and gardening classes and draws people from all over Brooklyn to join in the food justice movement. Yet, something even more special is brewing- a feast to those who nurture nature. Ms. Fleming is hosting a celebration for the farmy folks in all of us, their first annual Farmy Folks Soiree. This family function is on Saturday November 13th, from 6pm to 10pm, right around the corner from the garden on Clifton Place and Marcy Avenue. Farmy films and folk music will be the pulse of the event, guiding us right to the 2010 harvest review of the Hattie Carthan Market. A formal tribute to those who have helped out at the garden with their hard work and time toward building something positive for the community.
Tickets are $25 and can be bought at the market or on www.wix.com/frankness/forthefarmyfolks
But you don’t have to wait until then to enjoy autumn in the garden. Their Pumpkin Fest is this Saturday and they have plenty of treasures to hunt and pumpkins to carve if you’re up for it! In commemoration of Halloween, the day of the dead, there will be an art exhibit honoring food as essential for remembering the dead. Festivities go from 9am until 4pm. Expect fresh seasonal treats like mulled cider and pumpkin bread. Costumes are welcome!
urban gardening
I haven't checked the links, so maybe this is already covered. Composing of food waste could be a tremendous source of nutrients. Household waste may be difficult in NYC, but what about restaurant and supermarket waste on a neighborhood basis, tied in to community gardens?
Urban Gardners -- easy tomato plants
The best support product on the market for your Tomato plants is The Tomato Stake
www.thetomatostake.com
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