Urban Food Resilience

Growing food in metropolitan, urban, and peri-urban communities is gaining traction across the country. In addition to the production of food, urban agriculture can have positive economic, social, and environmental impacts by addressing community and public health issues, increasing green space, and providing economic development opportunities associated with small-scale farming and food businesses.  

The American Planning Association’s 2011 report Urban Agriculture: Growing healthy, sustainable places defined urban and peri-urban agriculture as referring to “the production, distribution and marketing of food and other products within the cores of metropolitan areas (comprising community and school gardens; backyard and rooftop horticulture; and innovative food-production methods that maximize production in a small area) and at their edges (including farms supplying urban farmers markets, community supported agriculture and family farms located in metropolitan green belts).” 

Tremendous opportunities exist within that definition to expand existing and develop new research, education, and extension (REE) projects, including connecting urban with indoor production practices (aka Controlled Environment Agriculture; CEA) and other innovations in agriculture. Increasing interest in placing CEA production in or near large urban centers also provide unique REE opportunities ranging from technology, financing and profitability, equity and access, planning policies, and technological advances in water and energy utilization. NUREC is well positioned to build collaborative networks across disciplines to facilitate groundbreaking advances in urban and indoor agriculture systems.

To support urban agriculture and food systems, NUREC has created an Urban Food Resilience Knowledge and Practice Network (you can learn more about our Knowledge and Practice networks here).