Urban Farming

Urban Farming, growing your own grub

by; John Williams

Why is Urban Farming important at all? The answer is not a simple one because thousand of reasons exist.One reason may be in general to produce a healthier food than the pesticide infested food bought it the market. Another could be to create a group in the community to help feed some of the hungry, and increase the relationship between the neighbors. Some people try to ease the burden of the economy for themselves by raising chickens, rabbits and vegetables instead of buying them at the market. Whatever the reasons may be you can be sure Urban Farming is gaining popularity across the United States.

Urban Farming has been around for a very long time and is not a new thing only how our methods change. Urban Farming was started in the United Stated under other names like war gardens and victory gardens during WWI and WWII. The ideal was if people grew their produce on the land inside the city it would lesson some of the pressure on public supplies that could be used to send to the troops and support the war effort. This in turn gave the public the feeling that they were helping with the war effort even though they were unable to enlist in the military.

During WWII Eleanor Roosevelt planted a White House garden which encouraged victory gardens across the United States to eventually produce forty percent of the nation’s fresh produce (Brown 2009). Urban Farming was given a more positive outlook when in 2009 First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged children from a local school to start a vegetable garden on the White House grounds (Brown 2009).

We are currently using names like micro farming, city farming, urban gardening, urban agriculture, and the list goes on and on. Whatever one may call it, if a person ever placed a plant in a pot, bucket or in the ground on any scale inside of city limits, that person is involved in the Urban Farming. A person may only be putting a plant in a pot to help spice up some culinary concoction or to add décor to a home but it is still Urban Farming, be it on an extremely small scale. With that being said there is plenty of information out there on the subject if one simply considered the word usage. Gardening, agriculture, city farm and many other names will help with the search for information.

In the United States with the mounting concerns with the climate effects the economy and the health that our food provides, Urban Farming has become a focal point of interest for communities (Brown 2009). It has become important for us to consider taking care of ourselves without relying totally upon the local stores to supply everything we need.

Urban farming is essentially farming in a micro scale. Growing plants in a container or a small plot in the back yard, and raising small animals we can use to help feed us and make products to sell from.

Plants and animals in fact can be raised and grown almost anywhere and anytime. In most cases they do not take up massive amount of space like traditional farming does. One does not need to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a green house when a frame of PVC and some clear plastic will do the trick. “Lufa Farms, founded by Mohamed Hage and Kurt Lynn, turned an unassuming office rooftop into a 31,000-square-foot greenhouse that grows tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other produce year-round and is a working example of a developing trend known as urban rooftop farming” (Rifkin 2011).  As you can see you can operate an Urban Farm almost anywhere.

To get involved in Urban Farming, check with the local city ordinance where the farm is located. There is in fact nothing said referring to the raising of legal plants in the Dayton city ordinance however there is reference to animals that are not allowable, how the animal are restrained, and what types are allowable. Chapter 91 of the Dayton, Ohio city ordinance describes the manner in which the animals are kept. The ordinance maintains no one shall keep animals in any condition that would be a disturbance or causes a health concern. (Dayton City Ordinance)

Chickens are allowed in Dayton but roosters are not because they create a noise disturbance and are declared a public nuisance, unless of course the rooster in question dose not crow (which is not likely). Prohibited animals are basically animals that are generally viewed as normally wild, any endangered species, any animal that is considered dangerous, and certain fish and other reptiles. To obtain a complete list consult with the local city ordinances. (Dayton City Ordinance)

Keeping animals is also subject to the state health department. The health department determines whether the animals are presenting a health risk for the animals or the owners or even the neighborhood. They check the cleanliness of the restraints and insure no diseases from the animals may be passed to local pets or humans. (Dayton City Ordinance)

If there is any intention of possessing animals it is would be prudent to check with the local ordinances of whatever city that one may live because they may have unusual laws about them. In the city of Dayton, Ohio it is only legal to sell baby chicks in lots of six, and in Texas it is illegal to put graffiti on someone else’s cow. In Pennsylvania no one is allowed to shoot bullfrogs on Sunday and in Berea Kentucky it is illegal to ride a horse at night unless it is equipped with a bright red tail light (dumblaws.com). Check with the local ordinances in the city of residence and there won’t be a fine for fishing for whales within the city limits of Oklahoma City (dumblaws.com).

As consumers we no longer notice the change of seasons in the supermarkets because our food is grown at long distances and then shipped to our local market. With the price of oil always on the rise the cost of food being transported follows the same trend (Lester 2009). So it is becoming a bigger concern for many families to look for alternative means to support the need for products from the markets, by growing their own food and storing it themselves.

Many of the new farms support the local markets, whether they are the farmer markets or the local food stand on the side of the road. Most urban farmers tend to be specialized in certain products like mushrooms, goat milk, and other things that may grow in a small area. The number of organic farms in the United States has jumped from 12,000 in 2002 to 18,200 in 2007 increasing by fifty percent in only five years. As this movement continues so will the value we place on locally grown food will increase in its favor.


Urban farming can only be a positive thing when working within the law and community. Urban farming can bring the community and the local government together to achieve a common goal of helping residents and clean up wasted land not being used. Urban farming can help beautify the city which in turn can help to bring in new businesses to the area. The only negative back draft to urban farming would be irresponsible people not taking care of their area. Living through this slight depression urban has only positive benefits and can help save our economic situation.