Is urban agriculture in the world’s concrete jungles climate friendly?

With more cities becoming ‘concrete jungles’, it has been assumed by many that urban agriculture is the solution to mitigating the emissions of these cities. As such, the University of Michigan recently embarked on an investigation to determine if urban farming is indeed the most climate-friendly option in this regard.

Jason Hawes, Benjamin Goldstein and Joshua Newell, professors at the University of Michigan, partnered with urban farm managers across five countries in North America and Europe to further explore the matter.

In an article published by The Conversation, Hawes et

al said: “We found that urban agriculture, while it has many community benefits, isn’t always better for the climate than conventional agriculture over the life cycle, even with transportation factored in. On average, the urban agriculture sites we studied were six times more carbon intensive per serving of fruit or vegetables than conventional farming.”

The researchers said that in their investigation of some urban farms in London, Paris and New York, they examined life cycle emissions, and not just one aspect of urban farming.

“We looked instead at the life cycle emissions of more common low-tech urban agriculture, the kind found in urban backyards, vacant lots and urban farms.

“Our study, which was published in January, surprisingly, from a life-cycle emissions perspective, (found) the most common source [of emissions] at these sites to be infrastructure.

“From raised beds to sheds and concrete pathways, this gardening infrastructure means more carbon emissions per serving of produce than [produced on] the average field. [But] with careful site design and improved land use, urban farmers can boost their benefit to people and the planet,” they said. –

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Taqwa community farm director Abu Talib works in a small park being used as a community garden in the Highbury neighbourhood of the Bronx, New York City.