Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Urban agriculture growth in US cities

Nature Sustainability volume 1, pages 5–7 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

In the United States, urban agriculture is growing as a result of increased availability of unused land and innovative development; the growth of farms and community gardens improves the ability of community members to cope with social and environmental change. But what will make urban agriculture sustainable?

Ten years later, Kate Tully, an agricultural ecologist at the University of Maryland and a resident of the neighbourhood, farms North Columbia Heights Green with 25 area residents. Like many urban farms, Tully’s group grows so much food they cannot consume it all and they share surplus food with a soup kitchen, Martha’s Table1. The urban garden contains ten large raised beds that form a semi-circle and residents grow the produce collectively. Planted together using methods of agroecology, crops enhance each other’s growth, protect each other from pests, and with cover crops they add nutrients to the soil. The result has led to one of the most productive urban farms in the city, as well as attracting 100 participants each year through planting, maintenance, and pick-your-own initiatives. The growers do not buy vegetables during the summer season because they produce around 16 kg of fresh vegetables each week. Research suggests that urban agriculture increases fruit and vegetable consumption among those who are active growers2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Corrigan, M. P. Appl. Geogr. 31, 1232–1241 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. McCormack, L., Laska, M. N., Larson, N. I. & Story, M. J. Am. Dietetic Assoc. 110, 399–408 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lawson, L. J. City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America 1–14 (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 2005).

  4. Lin, B. B., Philpott, S. M. & Jha, S. Basic Appl Ecol. 16, 189–201 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kremer, P. & DeLiberty, T. L. Appl. Geogr. 31, 1252–1261 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Colasanti, K., Litjens C. & Hamm, M. Growing Food in the City (C.S. Mott Group, East Lansing, 2010).

  7. Krasny, M. & Doyle, R. J. Extension 40, 1–4 (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Beckie, M. & Bogdan, E. J. Agriculture Food Syst. Community Dev. 1, 2152–0801 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Egerer, M. H., Bichier, P. & Philpott, S. M. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 110, 97–103 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lin, B. B., Philpott, S. M. & Jha, S. Basic Appl. Ecol. 16, 189–201 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bradley, K. & Galt, R. E. Local Environ. 19, 172–186 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Poulsen, M. N. Agr. Hum. Values 34, 135–148 (2017).

  13. Vitiello, D. & Wolf-Powers, L. Community Dev. J. 49, 508–523 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Reynolds, K. & Cohen, N. Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in New York City (University of Georgia Press, Athens, 2016).

  15. Frazier, I. The vertical farm. New Yorker (9 January 2017).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in Annapolis, Annapolis, MD, USA

    Lisa Palmer

Authors
  1. Lisa Palmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa Palmer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Palmer, L. Urban agriculture growth in US cities. Nat Sustain 1, 5–7 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-017-0014-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-017-0014-8

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing