Ag in the City

When you think about agriculture you may picture rolling hills, fields of golden wheat rippling in the wind, and maybe green pastures dotted with cattle. While this is very common in rural america, there are also other aspects and homes for agriculture that may not seem as obvious to you. A big example is urban areas.

You might ask, "How do they put agriculture and farming in areas where there are houses? Where is the room for all that?" The answer lies in things like community gardens and hydroponics. Both of these methods for growing food are very viable and are growing in popularity. In the city I currently attend college in, I know of community gardening programs around town and there is even a push to get a community garden on our campus. People are beginning to recognize the importance of agriculture and are finding ways to produce the maximum amount of resources with a shrinking amount of space.

Photo credit: chicagoflower.com

Though these programs are growing in popularity, they still may not be as popularized in some areas. After asking some of my fellow students what they thought about community gardening in Topeka, I received a similar response from many students. "I don't think we have community gardens in Topeka." When I asked them about hydroponics, many of the students weren't sure what I was talking about.

When you look at the big picture, rural America still has a lot of weight to pull. These farmers and ranchers still produce the majority of the food for our country. If people in urban areas were to engage in activities such as community gardening, not only would they be helping locally produce food to keep costs low, they would also become more knowledgeable about how their food is produced as well as some of the necessary practices that go into producing our nation's food. This combination of knowledge and skill in both rural and urban areas may help ease some of the tensions between the consumer and the producer regarding how their food is made.