When you think of farms, you usually think of rural areas, but urban farms are becoming much more popular. Urban agriculture, or urban farms, can involve growing, processing, and distributing food as well as raising and breeding livestock, aquafarming, agro-forestry, and horticulture.
Why have urban farms? Well, for one, it offers city folks locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. Some people also do it as a way to earn income and some even do it as a form of relaxation.
Urban agriculture isn’t a new thing. As far back as 1893, vacant city lots were turned into urban farms. Such was the case in Detroit, which was hit by a depression in the late 1800s. Named as Pingree’s Potato Patches after the mayor, these lots were used so the unemployed could grow their own vegetables and have a way to earn an income. For a mere $3,000 investment by the city into the program, $12,000 worth of vegetables was grown the first year. About 2,000 families partook of the program over the four years of its existence.
Also in the late 1800s/early 1900s, the City Beautiful Movement was taking over several American cities including Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C.
The City Beautiful Movement sought to help cities overcome such things as sanitation and crime brought about by sudden overpopulation. While most of the program focused on making the cities more beautiful through landscaping and statues, some chose to use this as an opportunity to become involved in gardening. The Minneapolis Garden Club turned city lots into gardens which produced vegetables for local stores.
Europe was lacking food during World War I because many farmers had gone to fight the war and many farms became battlefields. When it fell on America to produce food for the Allied Forces, Liberty Gardens popped up all over the country.
The National War Garden Commission was created to encourage Americans to grow food. Posters and cartoons included such phrases as “Every war garden a peace plant” and “Sow the Seeds of Victory.”
In the next blog, I will talk about more urban agriculture programs in American history.