Farming in Los Angeles "As recently as the 1960s, there were 100 urban farms covering 3,500 acres in the coastal stretch running from Santa Monica to Long Beach, according to a UCLA study of Southern California's food distribution system, "Seeds of Change," published in 1993. By the time of the study, 98 percent of that urban farmland had disappeared. Just 60 acres were left in crops."
My latest conversations on urban agriculture always go back to land use and availability. The automatic response to farming in the city, a place where people and development are continually vying for land, is that there is no land left to farm. And, if there is land “left” then it would, or should, be used for affordable housing or community services (both of which go back to urban agriculture in a round-about sort of way).
What I am trying to explore for my own research and explain to those who are interested in urban agriculture is that there is land for farming in the city. Vacant, derelict, unused…ect. land is found in every city. These parcels are prime sites for urban agriculture. We know why we need it-that seems to be common sense-and we are aware of its popularity-just look at the mega-conferences like Slow Food Nation-now we need to understand its practicality and implementability as a means to not only improve the physicality of spaces, but to feed and teach, to help earn and sustain.
Articles like this one in Seasonal Chef are great sources of inspiration and innovation.
“It’s not a lack of land,” said Madden, who believes urban farming has a bright future. “It just takes people with the will to make it happen.”
