Gone are the days of having a big back yard with room to grow food and have an actual garden. High density living, smaller lots and no time means we've lost the art of growing a veggie patch in the old back yard!
This way of customary living and an increase in urbanisation has pushed an increase in population, cities and towns are getting bigger with people moving in search of more opportunity for their families. With cities becoming concrete jungles and land scarcity at an all time high what does this mean for us in terms of food security?
In the future urban areas could have a role to play in food security and providing a means for communities to become self sufficient. Urban cities rely heavily on supermarkets for their food supply, this places large strains on food systems and adds to food miles, meaning we are not practicing sustainable means to deliver enough food to communities.
The future model needs to adopt the mentality to ensure basic food supplies are available through local farms and gardens to supply fresh nutritious food. Urban horticulture could play a really important role in strengthening local food security as the majority of people live in cities and towns, providing access to fresh nutritious produce close to the source of demand.
A key component to keeping up with these food demands and urbanisation is through growing food using less traditional practices. A combination of technologies such as hydroponics and aquaponics could also have a role to play in strengthening food security.
Hydroponics is described as the science of growing plants without using soil, by feeding them on mineral nutrient salts dissolved in water. Another viable option is through Aquaponics, where the waste of fish is used to fertilise crops in a natural symbiotic ecosystem.
These types of non conventional farming methods have been around for decades but on recently have made their way to the mainstream.
Hydroponic systems have the potential to produce high value crops, such as tomatoes, at very high yields, all year round. Reducing costs for food production overall and allowing for a more sustainable approach to food production and community.
To learn more about urban farming head to www.urbangreenfarms.com