Urban agriculture:
Global reflections for a
LiveableLiverpool
by Paul Osborn
Mdiateurs/ DoingChange
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Gaining ground
The transition of urban agriculture
from a survivalist response,
or a pillar and cornerstone of Utopia,
or just a decent recreational occupation
to a robust, resilient economic model
of the 21st century city
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The starter question
If every person of Liverpool were to meet their
minimum requirement of 205 grams of
vegetables per day, every day of the year;
If they did so 100% with vegetables grown and
marketed by themselves and sustainable local
enterprises within the city, at today’s standard
yields and with sound inputs;
What proportion of the city’s land surface (or
roofs, or balconies) would be required?
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Around the world of UA in < 80 slides
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Disclaimers – Acknowledgements – Intros
Historical perspective 1: context of UA
Definitions
What experiences could Liverpool emulate?
What prevailing frameworks?
Historical perspective 2: of UA ‘itself’ (s/he/it)
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Disclaimers, Credits, Intros
Disclaimers:
• All the usual ones, others in development
• Aim is inform + confirm + converge + exchange
Credits:
• Big thank you to two historically important framework
consolidators: IDRC.org and RUAF.org, and the
networks they ‘hub’
– International Development Research Centre, Ottawa
– Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security
• Grateful nods to many others, including
- ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, World
Conservation Union IUCN, Liverpool One, Liverpool Hilton
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Je suis un simple garçon du village
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In the beginning
2010
2080
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In the beginning, before the name
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Babylon
Delhi, Beijing, Macchu Pichu, Zimbabwe
Medieval village-city
Paris Commune
1930s allotments -- 1940s: Dig for Victory
1970s: Whole Earth, WWOOF . . . .
It has always been there. Many places do not
need to revive it, just modernise and expand.
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2010
• Half the world is a townie
• Are townies inevitably alienated from their food?
(not in much of Europe – Netherlands, Switzerland)
• Are they living at high risk of shortages when some
families live in severe dietary deserts?
• In 2007, London was 3 days from shortages
• Today (7 July) world grain reserves are at ~52 days
(safety = 62), and wheat rust is spreading fear
• Other urban challenges: New practices of enterprise,
employment, health and inclusion are essential
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2080 – Food production (cf. 2010)
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Only certainty is uncertainties
Future prospects are lean and mean:
- Upward price pressure
- True scarcity (not today’s alarming micro-hiccups)
- Untold migration (pressure) of peoples
- Transfer of food production from cultivation (and
livestock) to manufacture (incl. pharming) but
food security equally (more?) at risk
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Back to 2010:
The world of Urban Agriculture today
From: Local Action for Biodiversity, IUCN-ICLEI
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Key milestones NOW
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Rome: May 2010 – the country city
Brazil: March 2010 – World Urban Forum
ICLEI: May /June 2010
2010: UN International Year of Biodiversity
2010: Seattle City Year of Urban Agriculture
2011: UN International Year of the Urban Forest
• And the world’s gravest financial and strategic
turning point, crying out for new models …
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Urban Agriculture: key terms
• Synonyms:
– Urban + Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA)
• Related terms:
– Urban + Peri-Urban Horticulture (UPH)
– Urban livestock management
– City Farms
• See also:
– Micro-gardening, Allotments
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UA: The Big Three Reasons Why
Social
Ecological
Economic
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The UA world, as seen by RUAF
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Know thy Enemy: The Big 3 Why NOTs
• “Health and hygiene”: risks of solid wastes,
contaminated soils, air pollution, noise
pollution, visual pollution. Radiation. So:
Mitigate, avoid.
• “No land available”. Depends on zoning, which
is a political decision, requiring a policy
framework). So: political energy (will)
• No proven ecological viability. So: prove
otherwise (along with other benefits)
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The tale of 8 cities, of thousands
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Accra
Almere
Beijing
Brasilia
Bulawayo
Dar es Salaam
Havana
Rosario
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Vancouver
Seattle
New York
Madison
Suva
Bangkok
Brazzaville
Hanoi
• Antananarivo
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Almere
Beijing
Havana
Accra
Dar es Salaam
Brasilia, DF
Bulawayo
Rosario
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Accra, Ghana
• UA provides 80% of all legumes consumed
• Municipal Agriculture Department (as Nairobi)
• Demarcates permanent UA zones (as Dakar,
Kathmandu, Maputo)
• In Tema, City supported milk collection
• City revised bye-laws on waste water
• Campaign on minimising health risks
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Almere, Netherlands
• On new land (reclaimed Zuiderzee)
• New Agromere area (5,000 inhabitants, 2,300
households) includes farms
• Total of 250 hectares (620 acres), 72% to
farming and social collective uses, 28% to
housing
• 20% basic foodstuffs from within Agromere
• Minimal energy import, strong recyling
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Beijing, China
• (and Xiaotangshan) Government invested in
large modern periurban agriculture
demonstration park
• Government “assists” formation of coops
• Support to urban family-farms to provide
agro-tourism (farm shops, accomodation, food
outlets…)
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Brasilia, Brasil
• PROVE, the SME development agency, assists
start-up associations with truck fittings for
mobile stores
• These serve as collateral for credit
• PROVE assists formation of producer groups,
trains staff to replace statal extensionists
• Encourage integration of producer points-ofsale in supermarkets
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Producer kiosks in Carrefour
supermarket, Brasilia
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Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
• Inter-departmental Committee for UA
• City Support to temporary land lease
• City provides treated waste water to growers
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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Demarcates permanent UA areas in land-use
planning
• Mapping of available vacant land through
participatory GIS, and its potential for UA
• Allocates existing open spaces for UA,
including parts of university campus
• Reserves space in new housing projects and
slum upgrade schemes
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Havana, Cuba
• Launched UA programme between 1994 and
1999. Prices of tomato, onion, pork and fruits
fell threefold in this period
• City support to temporary leasing
• City supports seed supply systems
• City extensionists feedback to national
research agenda on crop varieties
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Rosario, Argentina
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Social Promotion office hosts UA programme
Short-term land lease
Tax breaks for medium-term land lease
Allocates space in new housing projects
Has agreements with community UA groups
for co-management of public open spaces
• Business counselling and business
development services to producer groups
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My, my, how you’ve grown!:
From action spurts to coherent agenda
• The common agenda of RUAF/ IDRC/ FAO/ World Bank/
Brasil Ministry for Social Development
1. Policy environment and institutional home
2. Land access and security of use
3. Secure the market. Achieve sustainable productivity:
enhance producer skills, organising and access to
credit/inputs. Encourage legacy sales outlets to adopt
UA produce.
4. Risk mitigation. Reduce/remove health and other risks
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Some observations - 1
• UA is in process of transformation, at a cusp
• Social and ecological arguments predominate
over economic arguments. These need to be
emphasised, sharpened, practised and proven
• Return on investment – models + data lacking
• Market growth potential (volumes, volumes,
volumes)
• Growing emphasis on tool of Procurement
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Some observations - 2
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UA growth page similar to renewable energy (RE)
RE: always been practised (wind, water,)
RE: 1960s and 1970s pioneers (“new heretics”)
1980s: prototyping
1990s: start to move to mainstream (viability)
2000s: create, disseminate, replicate
2010s: institutionalise, commercialise
And the legacy agencies need to reform
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Some issues to consider
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Land
Quality assurance
Choice of crops (and livestock); high value
Targets, or not (e.g. 10% of institutional meals,
20% of vegetables, 30% of herbs …)
• Financial models (inward Eastern investment?)
• Need to calculate the direct and indirect
economic benefits
– Health, social, avoided costs, carbon finance
• Need for reliable baseline data
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Some immediate can-do’s
– in networking mode
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Demonstrable projects
Study visits
Staff exchanges
Twinning or partnerships
Work on models for mapping and calculating
actual benefits and potentials
• Develop data sets
• Start planning strategic growth of UA in economy:
engage retail chains, stimulate procurement
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Answer to the Starter
• 7% - 11%
• 9% of Liverpool’s land is, formally classified as
open space (not including idle, zoned land)
• Depends on soil fertility, local microclimates,
accessibility…
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As ever: a tale of the carrot and the stick.
The carrots are ok. Now grow the sticks.
prosborn@gmail.com
From 16 October 2010:
www.DoingChange.com
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