Could home-produced food solve a part of the current food crisis?
The current food system is facing several issues in term of sustainability. In the last six decades, large amounts of inputs have replaced natural and internal resources, making farmers more and more dependent on the agribusiness and promoting specialization and intensification of farming systems [1]. This has led to serious ecological, economical and sociological problems which are now motivating farmers to change gradually their practices towards agroecology.
In this context, local food systems are sometimes considered as sustainable and interesting alternatives to industrial agriculture [2] even if they just constitute a part of the solution to conceive sustainable food systems. Indeed, local food systems are also criticized, for examples, in the field of energy efficiency [3].
Hence the first question of this debate should be: could local food systems solve a part of the current food crisis?
Beyond the concept of local food systems, DIY food is getting trendier [4] and urban farming is gaining ground. Even if several obstacles prevent the development of such systems, above all in urban areas, could self-produced food solve a part of the current food crisis? Do you think home-based food-production should be promoted as seen in the past in the Victory Gardens [5]?
[2] http://abundancenc.org/about/our-philosophy/why-local/
[3] http://www.sustainweb.org/pdf/afn_m1_p2.pdf
[4] http://www.ted.com/talks/britta_riley_a_garden_in_my_apartment
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Can it solve a part of the current food crisis? Possibly, but a very small part. The problem is the amount of land it takes to feed even a single person for a year, and the amount of time and effort it takes to produce a viable crop. Most individuals who are in possession of both sufficient land and free time to accomplish this are already sufficiently well off economically to be insulated from food shortages. Those that are in sufficiently dire economic straits as to be able to significantly benefit from home-produced food typically lack the free time, the land, or both. Urban farm plots are a trend, and they're popular for city dwellers who particularly feel that primal draw to directly secure ones own food- but remember that these are being worked by individuals in their free time, and that they are tiny compared to the size of a city. I've come off as sounding pretty negative here, and I don't meant to be excessively negative. I don't believe that home and urban farming would represent a detriment to the food situation- I just don't believe the actual benefits from it are significant at any kind of scale. Thank you for your participation ! We would be glad to have further details about your post. We all agree that growing its own food is time and space consuming. The fact is that most people no longer know how to grow vegetables and we have lost a great part of the basic knowledge of food production. People needs advice to grow food in an efficient way (i.e. without wasting too much time and land). The single way to raise interest for gardening among urban areas is to develop community gardens where people can work together and share their knowledge. By the way, here is the second great advantage of urban agriculture : this is a good way to socialize and to recreate the link that vanished few decades ago between people and farming. The issue of land availability is another important thing in which politicians need to get involved through Food Policy Councils. Moreover it is important to note that in several developing countries (Vietnam, Ghana, India, Cuba,…), urban agriculture and short food circuits provide a large part of the population with fresh food. What are your feelings about that ? 1
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What exactly is the 'large part' that urban agriculture produces in those countries? I noticed you grouped those in with short food circuits. Short food circuits are certainly a reasonable solution, and probably offer the most potential yield in the absence of high-yield commercial farms in those countries. But Those circuits are well beyond the scope of 'home-produced food' all told. 1
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