When you think about Newark, New Jersey, food production certainly does not come to mind. However, in the last year and a half Garden State Urban Farms (formally Brick City Urban Farms) has begun to change that. GSUF is part of the growing movement in the United States to re-localize agriculture, bringing small farming operations to urban population centers, as opposed to away from them.

In the United States, most people are completely disconnected from the process of food production. This is largely the result of the industrialization of agriculture, which not only separates people from where and how their food is produced, but also comes at a huge environmental and social cost. In comparison, Urban Agriculture provides an answer to many of the problems that Industrialized agriculture creates. Although most people think it is impossible to have agricultural operations of any scale in the cramped quarters of the modern metropolis, this is simply not the case. Abandoned lots, which in many depressed cities are plentiful, can be used to grow food, whether in-ground or aboveground. Rooftops are another option that is being utilized to grow food in cities.

Garden State Urban Farms currently utilizes Small Plot Intensive Farming methods using Earthboxes to grow vegetables and herbs. Earthboxes are aboveground plastic containers that self-water and contain all waste and nutrients from the plants, completely preventing agricultural runoff. According to their website, which can be found here, they collaborate “with schools, nonprofit organizations and government groups to provide employment opportunities and educational programming as well as low-cost, healthy food in urban areas throughout New Jersey.”

This semester I will be working for Garden State Urban Farms, helping them move from their current location in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Newark to a new location, expand their operation for the 2010 growing season, and pretty much anything else that needs to be done. I also plan on researching different methods for Urban farming, visiting other urban farms in the New York City area, and observing the social impacts that urban farms have on the community around them, in addition to researching the topic in general. Hopefully through this project I will be able to gain some insight into what I believe to be a integral part of the future of agriculture.

If you want to learn more about Urban Farming, the Community Food Security Coalition's report "Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United State: Farming from the City Center to the Urban Fringe" has a lot of excellent information on the subject. Check it out at here.