There is a lot to be said for the growing
urban-agriculture movement, but also a lot to be said for keeping it within
reasonable limits.
Evidence of its popularity in Montreal is
that a group promoting the concept, the Groupe de travail en agriculture
urbaine, readily collected more than 29,000 signatures on a petition asking for public
hearings on the future of urban agriculture in the city. That was nearly
double the number required for the petition to be considered by city hall, and
hearings on the matter will be held in various boroughs this month.
Urban agriculture has been practised here for
some time already, though until recently it was more prosaically called
gardening. There are nearly 100 community gardens in the city already, with
12,000 devotees tilling a total of 26 hectares of urban soil in all but three
of the city’s 19 boroughs. People in increasing numbers are taking to growing
vegetables, fruits and herbs on balconies, rooftops and alleys along with the
more traditional garden plots in front and back yards.
The most evident benefit of the exercise is
that it is a source of cheap fresh food. Experts suggest that a garden plot the
size of an average living room can produce enough fresh vegetables to feed two
people for half the year at minimal cost, as opposed to the $150 to $300 the
produce would cost at the supermarket.
Additional benefits include the
family and community spirit that urban farming can generate, the satisfaction
and empowerment to be derived from producing one’s own food, and the increased
respect it induces for food production, something from which urbanites have
become progressively removed. In addition, urban agriculture makes for a
greener city and helps reduce the heat-island effect in city cores. And the
more food people produce close to home, the less has to be transported from the
countryside by gas-guzzling and pollution-spewing trucks.
Advantageous as it is, urban agriculture is
not something to be blindly rushed into, as there are downsides of
which to beware. Pesticide use has to be carefully regulated in the interest of
public health. Urban growers need to be beware of contaminated soil in
inner-city plots; five years ago the Southwest borough had to close
167 garden plots after the city’s health department found their soil to be
contaminated. As well, fruit and vegetable yards could attract thieves.
Where the line should be drawn is at keeping
livestock in residential neighbourhoods.
Part of the urban-agriculture movement
includes advocacy on behalf of animal husbandry within city limits.
Particularly popular is the notion of having backyard chicken coops to provide
eggs even fresher and more wholesome than the organic and free-range variety
now widely available in stores. A New York Times food writer recently
rhapsodized about the “muscle tone” and intensely rich taste that the yolks of
such backyard eggs possess, and the quality of their whites, said to be never
runny and to stand up immediately when whipped.
However, the downside of inner-city chicken
coops outweigh any benefits. The birds tend to be noisy and unless scrupulously
tended give off noxious odours and spread bacteria. They tend to attract
roaming animals and are liable to engender conflicts between neighbours. Many
people drawn to the temptation of fresh eggs and the quaintness of keeping the
birds are likely to be overwhelmed by the work of keeping them properly, and
allow the birds to suffer along with the health of the neighbourhood.
And once chickens have been allowed to invade
urban precincts, expect some people to clamour for ducks, rabbits and even
goats.
Rather than progress, allowing chickens or
any other form of agricultural livestock into urban residential environs would
be a regression. In years past, keeping livestock in the city was common
practice, and something civic authorities over the years wisely discouraged and
banned.
It should be kept that way. Urban agriculture
should be a strictly vegetarian enterprise. There is a place for livestock, and
it is on a proper farm.
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