Systemic Socioeconomic And Public Health Issues With Community Gardening And Urban Agriculture

Solving America’s Systemic Socioeconomic and Public Health Issues with Community Gardening and Urban Agriculture
As many developed countries are growing in population while also becoming increasingly urbanized, there is a growing demand for agricultural production from ever shrinking land and decreasing agricultural populations. Now more than ever, there is a need to farm within urban and suburban environments. There are many strategies that the federal government, local governments, and citizens have explored to address this problem, often emphasizing the importance of a sustainable approach. Community gardening, with proper policy and social support, is a viable strategy not only for providing produce for the population, but also for increasing

Community gardens provide a safe space for residents to interact with each other, creating opportunities to improve social bonds, bolster neighborhood identity, and increase social capital (Schukoske, 356). While working for a common goal, members of the community can come together to beautify and improve the state of their neighborhoods for aesthetic, health, and economic reasons. Due to racially biased zoning laws, gentrification, and inequitable resource allocation, many communities of color are the most in need of community improvement, but the least able to access the necessary resources (Schukoske, 358). Though community gardening does not have the capacity to alter a history of systemic discrimination against poor communities, they can allow these communities to leverage assets related to community gardening like rising property values and economic opportunities when pushing for policy changes to benefit their community in the future. Increasing social capital empowers the community and thus serves as a foundation for addressing other social, economic, and political issues that affect the

Community gardens can raise property values significantly, while also adding to the city’s tax revenue (Gardening Matters). By providing local options for fresh food, especially in food deserts, many families can save money on transportation costs that could be quite extensive given the distance of the closest grocery store. For families who invest their own time and money into the gardens, they can see an income of anywhere from “$1,000 to $10,000 and more from an acre of land” (Brown, 26). The food produced from the garden can be sold at farmer’s markets, to restaurants, or to grocery stores for a noteworthy profit. Moreover, since urban farming is often more intensive than rural agriculture, there is often a higher yield, creating more material to sell (Brown, 26). These opportunities can help younger generations as well by providing experiences that promote business and marketing skills. “Food from the Hood” was a business started by students in Los Angeles who sold salad dressings made from ingredients from their local community garden. These students would go on to make over a hundred thousand dollars which was set aside for college scholarships for the students (Brown, 26). The economic implications of community gardening show positive effects for the producers as well as the consumers and can be an important source of