A University of Michigan study of Urban Agriculture stirs controversy

That’s certainly a headline that grabbed a lot of attention and has caused some pushback on the research on the U of M campus and among some homesteaders.

By David Fair
WEMU
Mar 20, 2024

Excerpt:

The researchers identified three best practices crucial to making low-tech urban agriculture more carbon-competitive with conventional agriculture:

Extend infrastructure lifetimes. Extend the lifetime of UA materials and structures such as raised beds, composting infrastructure and sheds. A raised bed used for five years will have approximately four times the environmental impact, per serving of food, as a raised bed used for 20 years. (Project Grow, an urban farming initiative that provides plots at sites throughout Washtenaw County, uses a revolving model where infrastructure remains and farmers rotate through over decades.)

Use urban wastes as UA inputs. Conserve carbon by engaging in “urban symbiosis,” which includes giving a second life to used materials, such as construction debris and demolition waste, that are unsuitable for new construction but potentially useful for UA. The most well-known symbiotic relationship between cities and UA is composting. The category also includes using rainwater and recycled grey water for irrigation.

Generate high levels of social benefits. In a survey conducted for the study, UA farmers and gardeners overwhelmingly reported improved mental health, diet and social networks. While increasing these “nonfood outputs” of UA does not reduce its carbon footprint, “growing spaces which maximize social benefits can outcompete conventional agriculture when UA benefits are considered holistically,” according to the study authors.

Read the complete article here.