Posts Tagged: urban
Roof-top gardens on LA skyscrapers connect people with food
"Chefs are using what's produced (in the garden) in their kitchens because they know their customers appreciate fresh, local food," said Rachel Surls, the sustainable food systems advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County.
Surls was part of a recent tour of urban agriculture in downtown Los Angeles, a story that was also covered by the LA Times.
The visitors — who included growers, urban policymakers, consultants, entrepreneurs and representatives of nonprofits — wandered around the vegetable beds and asked questions as they got a taste of the garden. The article said the garden, on the fifth floor of a building at 6th and Figueroa streets, cost about $40,000 to build and yields as much as $150,000 worth of produce every year.
Other news:
Drought clouds future of California wine industry
W. Blake Gray, Wine-searcher-com
The California drought didn't impact the wine industry in 2014, but a dry forecast for next year has growers worried. One major issue is the buildup of salts in soils, said Mark Battany, UC Cooperative farm advisor in San Luis Obispo County. During a wet winter, these salts are washed away. But California hasn't had a wet winter in three years. Farmers were able to irrigate at the beginning of the drought to make up the difference, but increasingly water supplies are restricted.
Battany says that excess salt buildup in the soil can cause grapevines to lose their leaves. "Without a way to process sunlight, you won't see sugar ripening," he said.
Showdown looms as California eyes pesticides
Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press
Organic farmers are challenging a proposed California pest-management program they say enshrines a pesticide-heavy approach for decades to come, including compulsory spraying of organic crops at the state's discretion.
The farmers are concerned about the California Department of Food and Agriculture's pest-management plan, the article says. The 500-page document lays out its planned responses to the next wave of fruit flies, weevils, beetles, fungus or blight that threatens crops. Many groups challenging the plan complained that it seems to authorize state agriculture officials to launch pesticide treatments without first carrying out the currently standard separate environmental-impact review.
The article reported that the California organic agriculture industry grew by 54 percent between 2009 and 2012. California leads the nation in organic sales, according to statistics tracked by UC Cooperative Extension specialist Karen Klonsky, who says the state is responsible for roughly one-third of a national organic industry.
/span>Landscape trees also suffer drought consequences
Igor Lacan, UCCE advisor in Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, says it's difficult to make blanket statements about which species are in trouble, since a tree's water- and heat-related health depends on its location.
Some species on a south-facing slope might show drought stress, while the same species on a north-facing slope doesn't. Stress symptoms also show up on trees planted near paved surfaces, though not near other surfaces that don't reflect heat, Lacan said. Since many tree species are fairly resilient, damage comes on slowly and may take months or years to become apparent.
But Lacan was able to conclude with a positive comment.
"The good thing is that in all likelihood mature, established trees, if climatically appropriate (for their location), will make it through ... just fine," Lacan said.
/span>UCCE advisor sees cultural shift toward urban ag in Los Angeles
Surls is the "client" for a group of UCLA students that are tracking Los Angeles' urban ag. She said the students, called Cultivate L.A., contacted the county's 88 cities to investigate their municipal codes related to food production.
"Are bees allowed? Are chickens and other kinds of poultry allowed? Are goats allowed? So that's one of the outcomes of the project I'm very excited about," Surls said.
The information has been incorporated into a map of LA, which allows users to navigate local municipal codes and find out how urban ag is taking shape in their neighborhoods.
Surls hopes the information can be used to establish "best practices" Los Angeles County cities can use in adapting planning codes to become more consistent and more rational in their approach to urban agriculture.
"People are very interested in this. So there's been a cultural shift towards wanting urban agriculture and having more opportunities for very small scale food production," Surls told Paulas. "But the codes and the policies have not been keeping pace. Hopefully, all the research that's been done by the students will help urban planners and city officials update the policies."
Trending: Urban agriculture in California
Twenty-eight fruit trees and eight grapevines were planted in Del Aire park, near the intersection of freeways 105 and 405. A sign declares, "The fruit trees in this park are public. They are for everyone, including you."
The story noted that UC Cooperative Extension is part of the urban agriculture trend. Writer Chris Chiao reported that the Fruit and Flowers Freedom Act passed unanimously in 2010 by the L.A. City Council, with the help of the Urban Farming Advocates and Councilman Eric Garcetti, and that UC Cooperative Extension launched the Grow L.A. Victory initiative earlier that year, designed to teach Angelenos gardening skills.
UCCE adds urban 4-H club in San Francisco
Responding to a strong locavore movement and do-it-yourself ethos in San Francisco, parents Megan Price and Lauren Ward co-founded the San Francisco Urban 4-H Club this year, said an article published yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle.
"With the whole urban farming movement blossoming, there are a lot of people with backyard chickens, beekeeping, etc.," Price was quoted. "It just seems like a really good time to start exploring these things with our kids."
But that wasn't the only thing that drew the parents to 4-H.
"I like that (4-H is) focused on service, that it's nondiscriminatory," Price said. "I like that it is focused on earth and agriculture and animals and helping - it is something that kids don't necessarily have access to in the city."
The Chron article, written by Lisa Wallace, said 4-H membership, especially in urban areas, has been on a steady rise the last 4 years. According to 4-H National, about a third of participants are now from cities of at least 50,000 or their surrounding suburbs.
Even though these 4-H members generally live in areas not zoned for farm animals, 4-H helps find ways for city kids to experience the joys and challenges of animal husbandry.
For example, UC Cooperative Extension 4-H program representative Mary Meyer worked with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to set up five locations where 4-Hers can lease land - in Pacifica, Daly City, San Bruno, San Carlos and near the Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo County, the article said. The rent is usually around $6 per month, and because there is no caretaker, it's up to the 4-Hers to feed and groom their animals daily.
Nine-year-old Elsa Rafter joined the San Francisco Urban 4-H Club because of her family's interest backyard chickens, but by participating in 4-H, became involved in several other aspects of growing and preparing food.
Elsa learned to milk a club member's backyard goats and make homemade ice cream from the milk. With Price, who is a pastry chef, she baked an apple and blackberry galette with fresh fruit and an egg wash from her own chickens.
"When you live in a city, you're exposed to cool stuff like museums, but you have to go out of your way to see a farm, or experience milking a goat," Price was quoted in the story.
Bay Area 4-H was also recently featured in a Mother Jones blog post. Kiera Butler wrote about 4-H children she met at the Alameda County Fair.
She said the 4-H kids and leaders she talked to spoke passionately about the importance of raising animals in humane conditions and on healthy and varied diets. Members are encouraged to spend time with their animals, and they are required to learn about the biology and health of the animals they raise.
"In 4-H we try to make kids understand the responsibility that comes with raising an animal," UCCE 4-H program representative Stephanie Fontana was quoted. "You're in charge of another being."
4-H member Sarah Hazeltine of Woodland kisses her goat. (Photo: Kathy Keatley Garvey)