Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change - weADAPT

Adding to the debate surrounding urban agriculture practices, including its yield andcommercialisation potential, is a reoccurring question about profitability or even thepossibility of producing enough food in the confined spaces available within the urbanenvironment. However, as demonstrated by the small scale farmers on TamborineMountain, small spaces can be very profitable and can be cultivated in such a mannerthat they produce more than a family could consume.The problem is they don’t know anything, and people think they that need to buy10 acres or 20 acres and they don’t, if they get half an acre, which is an ordinaryblock here, it is big enough to grow far more than you need yourself - you canmake a living off a garden plot. The big thing that people don’t realise is thaturban agriculture, agriculture of any sort; you can grow an enormous amount in avery small area of land [Organic farmers, Gold Coast].We noted in the literature review that there is a tendency to conflate urban agriculturewith community gardening. Almost all interviewees mentioned community gardeningwhen asked to state what sort of activities and practices they would include under theumbrella of urban agriculture, however almost without exception they went on to list amuch wider range of activities:Aquaponics/hydroponicsBackyard gardensCity farmsChicken-keeping & micro livestockCommunity gardensCommunity compostingCommunity nurseries & plant exchangeFarmers’ marketsFood forestsFood swaps/exchangesGuerrilla gardeningMarket gardens/peri-urban productionRestaurant gardensSchool gardensSeed sharingStreet gardening &verge/nature strip plantingVertical gardensUrban beehivesUrban mushroom farmsUrban orchardsGreen roofsAs this list illustrates, the interviewees typically had a very inclusive and expansiveconception of what urban agriculture is, and what it could become. One expressed avision of a city overflowing with food in many sites, a sense of sustainable abundance:I see it very broadly – community gardens, school gardens, restaurant gardens,market gardens, home gardens, office gardens, rooftop gardens, verticallyintegratedagriculture, gardens in aged-care homes, gardens for people withmental health issues, social enterprises incorporating food production – you cango on and on, the sky’s the limit. There would be food everywhere – the true ‘ecocity’.[Non-government organisation, Melbourne.]Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change 119