Because a growing proportion of food is not grown where it is eaten, city dwellers often fall victim to “food deserts” where they have little or no access to affordable, high-quality, fresh food. By the year 2050 close to 80% of the world’s population will be living in urban centers.
With the growth of mega cities, our current farms mandate a paradigm shift to environmentally friendly and efficient urban food systems to support the population in a sustainable way.
Urban farming presents a unique opportunity to grow crops on land that is vacant or unused. These crops can also be grown in huge skyscrapers, abandoned lots and even in used shipping containers. It is up to the farmer to be as creative as s/he wishes.
One of the largest benefits of urban agriculture is the reduced distance of shipping crops from farmer to buyer.
Providing food for our future mega cities will not be an easy task, but it can be sustainable. Creative minds have come up with ways of turning once wasted buildings, containers, and swimming pools into sustainable farms, capable of producing a large amount of food in our cramped urban spaces.
Conventional agriculture does not have to be the answer to our exploding population and the environment does not have to be at risk to feed us.