Urban Food Production

Overview

Urban food production is one of the best strategies for reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and to learn about sustainable practises.
When supplies of cheap fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) were cut off from Cuba during the Special Period (1990-2000) the population reverted to organic and permaculture farming practises both in cities and in rural areas. Collectively they were able to reduce per capita GHG emissions to 4 tonnes per person per year.
They did this by composting organic waste material, planting nitrogen fixing cover crops, and using more human labour inputs to help manage local food production. Organic, regenerative and permaculture food production techniques were widely practised as presented in the documentary film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

You don't become an expert gardener overnight. It takes years of practise.
To get a head start it worth joining a Community Garden or attending a course such as the CERES Complete Urban Farming Course presented by Justin Calverley which runs for 14 weeks (weekly sessions). There is also a book that accompanies the course titled The Urban Farmer.
There are also other good on-line resources to draw inspiration from:
- My Smart Garden and especially the Resources section that has instructional videos from local experts.
- My Green Garden by Maria Ciavarella has a focus on Italian food production and preservation practises.
- Deep Green Permaculture is an excellent resource prepared by Angelo Eliades and showcases a Permaculture urban food forest in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

There are two big issues that need to be addressed with urban farming, but are rarely discussed.
- Water loss as stormwater (roof rainwater) and water loss to sewage (toilet flusing, showers, sinks)
- Nutrient loss mainly to sewage (nutrients in our urine and poo).

It requires a large amount of water to grown food.
Foodprint Melbourne project has found that it takes over 475 litres of water per person per day to grow our food Food Print Melbourne by Dr. Rachel Carey at the University of Melbourne.
Growing food locally at home, using roof water, grey water, taking shorter showers and using dry composting toilets leads to an overall reduction of total water usage ANU Press Troubled Waters: Confronting the Water Crisis in australia’s Cities