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Amy Franceschini's Victory Gardens: Community Shared Agriculture

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Background There has been a rise in urban farming since 2008 in the United States. A great example of this is a work titled Victory Gardens 2008+, by the new genre artist Amy Franceschini. This project was based around the original victory gardens that were popularized during the first and second world war. As it is commonly known these programs were created to address food shortages during the war effort. Amy Franceschini set out to do the same, but focus on this idea as a resourceful way to combat malnourished and food insecurity issues that exist in many communities today. Victory Garden 2008+ was set out to be in unused lands within the city of San Francisco. It established 18 gardens, including an additional one that sits in front of …show more content…

Previous approaches have been finding methods for suburban and city residences to grow or have access to locally cultivated fruits and vegetables. The initiative CSA also known as, Community Shared Agriculture, has implemented its model to help dress this shortcoming. A CSA is a locally based economic model of agriculture and food distribution that are spread across many metro and suburban areas in the United States. In CSA’s, a particular network of individuals agree to support one or more local farms or gardens to better diffuse the labor and distribution ratio depending of the need. This not only means that the community becomes more involved with one another, but allows people to learn the process. The growers and consumers are sharing the risks and benefits of the food produced (Flachs,2010 ), again diffusing the labor involved into carrying out this initiative. It also opens the market to cheaper, usually organic, fruits and vegetables. A recent case study on community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms found that CSA’s provide the culture benefits (the feeling of community between the participants, farmers and customers) and creates a longevity in these programs which allows for their continued …show more content…

This in turn allows the shift in the economy by creating more access to fresh produce while also making it more affordable. In the Victory Gardens 2008+, the city garden has about 4,000 different varieties of edible plants which yielded hundreds of pounds of food for shelters (MacVean, 2009). A recent study found a correlation between the intake of fruits and vegetables and the social involvement in these low-income communities (Poulsen et al. 2014). Another recent study to corroborate the effects that is has in other areas was done in Baltimore Maryland. This study analyzed the benefits of these gardens and they revealed how community gardening helps fortify social bonds within a neighborhood (Litt et al.,2011). This not only helps to improve the food environment but the public safety and the neighborhood's social

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