from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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In
From the Vault, we share earlier JAFSCD articles that are worth another look. While we gear up to start publishing to the winter issue, it's a great time to check out the JAFSCD archives.
Today's featured article appeared in the special issue on Urban Agriculture (2010). |
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Could Toronto provide 10% of its fresh vegetable requirements from within its own boundaries?
JAFSCD peer-reviewed research article by Rod MacRae, Eric Gallant, Sima Patel, Marc Michalak, Martin Bunch, and Stephanie Shaffner (all at York U) |
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By 2025, two-thirds of humanity will live in cities. Many experts wonder where food to feed five billion urban people will come from. A portion may well come from cities themselves. Many urban areas are now producing over 20% of their vegetable production from within city boundaries. Approaches to urban food production range from victory gardens to new ideas for intensive farming in dedicated high-rise structures. However, in this study, the authors focus specifically on commercial-scale vegetable production within the boundaries of the city of Toronto.
Space (with its associated urban norms and rules) is typically assumed to be the limiting factor in urban food production. This study (from 2010), Could Toronto provide 10% of its fresh vegetable requirements from within its own boundaries?, was part of a larger inquiry into policy and infrastructure changes to support urban agricultural development in Toronto. It was undertaken to determine if growing space is available in the city to provide 10% of its main vegetable requirements from within its own boundaries.
KEY FINDINGS - If we assume that the current 126 ha (311 acres) of vegetables produced on Toronto census farms is, or readily could be, sold within the city and converted to organic production, then an additional 2,191 ha (5,414 acres) in vegetable production are required.
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Our analysis reveals that sufficient land and rooftops are potentially available. However, matching the crops and suitable markets to the sites is a significant challenge.
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To maximize viability, it makes sense to match the scale of the operation with both the value of the production and the markets that are interested in high-value crops. For example, salad greens generate more production in a small plot than squash, and their production can be spaced out over the growing season to provide regular and consistent cash flow. This makes greens a more viable production option on small plots and rooftops.
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Experiences with local food promotion in Ontario reveal that mainstream retailers and food service companies, and their distributors, tend to be hesitant to purchase local fresh vegetables. Independent retail, table-service restaurants, specialty shops, farmers markets, box schemes, and CSAs are more promising outlets for Toronto food.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
Is it feasible for Toronto to produce 10% of its fresh vegetable requirements from within its own boundary? This level of food production would require 2,317 ha (5,725 acres) to meet current demand. Of this, 1,073.5 ha (2,652.7 acres) of land could be available from existing census farms producing vegetables, lands currently zoned for food production, certain areas zoned for industrial uses, and over 200 small plots (0.4–2 ha or 1–4.9 acres) dotted throughout the northeast and northwest of the city. This area would have to be supplemented with some combination of production under hydro corridors (potentially problematic because of public health concerns about electromagnetic frequency), institutional lands in other parts of the city, and rooftop production.
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The image above is of the Scadding Court Urban Agriculture Program and the photo was taken by Toronto based photographerAlain Rouiller. Image can be found on Flickr here. |
CHECK OUT THE FALL 2023 ISSUE OF JAFSCD |
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