City Farming in the News

Urban farming is cropping up in the news all over the place these days. Below are some recent news. If you have any of your own to share, please submit it here. We'd love to add them to this growing collection.

Man Killed by Rooster at Cock Fight

A rooster apparently attacked a man at a cock fight. The rooster, wearing a knife, somehow hit a main artery on the man's leg. The 35-year old bled to death. He's been fined before for training roosters to fight. See more of the story here.

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40,000 Square Foot Rooftop Garden in Queens

Ben Flanner is starting a 40,000 square foot garden on top of a 8 story building in Queens. His goal is to make a profit from this venture by selling his harvest at local farmers markets and resturants. Read more of the article here.

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A New Breed of Rabbit Farmer

As the demand for rabbit increases, independent rabbit farmers in the Northwest try to keep up with the demand. Read more of this Oregonian story here.

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New Bill in US to Create Urban Agriculture Office

The goal of this new bill, which will create an Urban Agricultural office within the Deptartment of Agriculture, is "to effectively encourage local agricultural production and increase the availability of fresh food in urban areas, particularly underserved communities experiencing hunger, poor nutrition, obesity, and food insecurity, and for other purposes." Read more about it here.

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Is Goat the New Cow?

Although goat hasn't been a huge staple to the American diet, it's growing in popularity. And for good reason: Goat meat can be raised locally in non-industrialized settings and without all the hormones that are pumped into cattle. As more resturants offer goat dishes and people are exposed to the tasty meat, it might be hard for goat farmers to keep up with the demand. Read article here.

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No Way to Treat a Bee

In the fight to buy local, the bees are being missed. Local honey production can't compete with imported honey (in china, for instance, they can sell their honey for less than local bees can produce their honey). This, coupled with argriculture practices of the nation, have forced beekeepers to rent out their hives. These hives travel all over pollinating large crops--at huge risk to the bees, disruption of bee life, and huge carbon footprint. Read this Oregonian article (written by a commercial beekeeper) here.

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Attack of the Rotten Tomatoes (New York Times)

Growing your own food is gaining momentum. Many newcomers are getting in on the act with varying degrees of success. An especially interesting newcomer is the City of Baltimore who decided to turn their flower beds into gardens to help feed people at local shelters. Read the article here.

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Even Icecream Companies are Concerned about the Disappearing Bee Act

Haagen Dazs, maker of premium icrecream, has started a campaign to help save the honey bee. In order to raise awareness of the plight of the honey bee, they've started a new line of icrecream. They're also donating money to research aimed at discovering why the bees are dying. The company estimates that nearly 50% of their icecream ingredients are directly related to bees. Go to their website for more information.

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Triscuit Crackers Join the Urban Farming Trend

In an effort to recongize the rise in gardening/farming, Triscuit Crackers linked up with Urban Farmers with a unique campaign to encourage people to garden--they've included seed packets in specially marked boxes of Triscuits. They've also created a website aimed at building a 'home farming community'. Visit the Home Farming site for more information.

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Backyard Bunnies are the New Urban Chickens

Rabbits are the perfect choice for urban farmers for many reasons: They will eat your kitchen scraps, they're small and easy to raise, they're not smelly, they don't make noise, and their meat has a smaller carbon footprint than other meats consumed. Read the article from the GOOD.is blog here.

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Goat Fans, Cities Butting Heads (USA Today)

Miniture goat popularity is on the rise. These goats, owners say, are great pets for the city. They stay small (they grow up to 60 lbs), are easy to tame and can't bite. As more and more people want goats for pets, cities are faced with whether or not to allow goat keeping by city residents as part of city ordinations. Read the article here.

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Seattle has declared 2010 The Year of Urban Agriculture!

Seattle's city council has adopted a new plan focused on promoting farming efforts in the city to increase the availability of locally grown food.

As part of their efforts, the city is enlarging their community garden spaces, offering matching grants for people who plant fruit trees, and allowing city residents to plant gardens in the street planting strips. For more information on the Urban Agriculture movement, check out their website.

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City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Growing by Lorrainne Johnson
New Book on City Farming to be released in May 2010.

City Farmer celebrates the new ways that urban dwellers are getting closer to their food....if you'd like to read the entire review for this exciting new book, click here.

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Urban Composting: A New Can of Worms (The New York Times)
New Yorkers are learning the value composting by turning their food waste into compost created by worms... "increasing number of New Yorkers have been taking up the challenge, turning their fruit skins and eggshells into nutritious crumbly soil in an effort they regard as the natural next step to recycling paper, bottles and cans."...read the article here.