If the New York Times is Talkin’ ’bout It…
It appears I’m on to something. This morning, two friends emailed me a link to an article published in yesterday’s New York Times about urban farmers. The article discusses backyard farms cropping up not only in and around New York City but all over the United States. Specifically mentioned were the cities of Detroit, Milwaukee, and Oakland, places that have “low-income residents, high rates of obesity and diabetes, limited sources of fresh produce and available, undeveloped land.” Basically, the ghetto. Regretfully, the Inner City Farm wasn’t mentioned.
Interestingly, the article discusses the many obstacles the “urban agriculture movement” (there it is, official confirmation; this is a movement, and I am part of it) has faced over the years. In the article John Ameroso, a Cornell Cooperative Extension agent who has been working with local farmers and gardeners for 32 years, describes the disdain he was shown by city environmental officials in the early 1990s when he suggested creating urban farm stands. They dismissed his idea as being unrealistic. Now, less than two decades later, it is coming to be seen as a practical solution to many of the problems we face.
One aspect of the article that surprised me was that many of these urban farming operations are making serious money from their backyard operations. Evidently they don’t possess the same hippie ethos I do.
Self-Sufficiency Meter (how close we are to being fully self-sufficient): 29%