EDUCATE MOTIVATE POLLINATE
This conference invites everybody interested in urban agriculture to participate by sharing needs, experiences, questions, and project ideas. This conference will address the barriers to urban agriculture, by involving a wide range of often disconnected stakeholders: urban producers, researchers, urban planners, developers, community organizations, and urban activists to address the most important and controversial issues of poverty alleviation, environmental and waste management, local economic, social and community development and global warming.
Urban agricultural experts from around North America will join us in forums, workshops, exhibitions, presentations, videos and networking. Please check out the presenters and the schedule.
WHY URBAN AGRICULTURE?
There is a quiet revolution stirring in our food system. It is not happening so much on the distant farms that still provide us with the majority of our food; it is happening in cities, neighborhoods, and towns. It has evolved out of the basic need that every person has to know their food, and to have some sense of control over its safety and security. It is a revolution that is providing poor people with an important safety net where they can grow some nourishment and income for themselves and their families. And it is providing an oasis for the human spirit where urban people can gather, preserve something of their culture through native seeds and foods, and teach their children about food and the earth. The revolution is taking place in small gardens, under railroad tracks and power lines, on rooftops, at farmers’ markets, and in the most unlikely of places. It is a movement that has the potential to address a multitude of issues: economic, environmental, personal health, and cultural.”
Michael Ableman (keynote speaker at the conference)
- Urban agriculture(UA) supports food security and healthy nutrition.
- UA provides employment and income.
- UA can turn urban wastes into a productive resource.
- UA can positively impact the greening and cleaning of the micro-climate.
- UA provides a powerful learning experience for school children.
- UA creates community.
“To grow your own food gives you a sort of power and it gives people dignity. You know exactly what you’re eating because you grew it. It’s good, it’s nourishing and you did this for yourself, your family and your community.” Karen Washington
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