The Multiple Benefits of Urban Agriculture

Abstract

In a global society that experiences pervasive rates of food insecurity and environmental degradation, urban agriculture has become an increasingly popular form of food production that can meet the needs of underserved communities in urban populations. Food production systems, especially urban food movements, have been shaped by the historical, social, and environmental contexts of their time. Today, hunger is understood through measurements of “food insecurity,” defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as the “situation when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life” (Roser, 2020, p. 18). Across the world, one in four people—1.9 billion people globally—are reported to be moderately to severely food-insecure (Roser, 2020). In the United States alone, 11 percent of the population was foodinsecure in 2018 (Roser, 2020). Field agriculture is still the largest form of food production in the United States and in most countries worldwide, yet it remains a highly unsustainable system that has failed to serve billions of people who are undernourished. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2014, one-third of the world’s food—1.3 billion tons—was wasted as 800 million people were simultaneously reported to be “hungry” (Food and Agriculture, 2014). Urban agriculture is an alternative method of food production that can provide multifaceted solutions to urban communities facing high rates of food insecurity. The urban food production movement is evolving quickly and takes many forms, from