Sowing Seeds in the City

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction: Planting Seeds

   • Bill Yosses

   Pages 1-8

3. Perspectives on Food Security and the Impacts of Urban Agriculture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-9

      PDF

   2. Food Security and Urban Agriculture

      • Angie Tagtow

      Pages 11-22

   3. Urban Agriculture as a Resiliency Strategy

      • Steve Hallett

      Pages 23-38

   4. The Long Tradition of Urban Agriculture in the U.S.: And Its Future

      • Ken Meter

      Pages 39-61

4. Individual and Community Health Benefits of Urban Agriculture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-63

      PDF

   2. Harvesting Health in the Garden

      • Katherine Alaimo, Caroline Crawford, Elizabeth Hodges Snyder

      Pages 65-75

   3. Social Health and Social Capital

      • Caroline Crawford, Katherine Alaimo

      Pages 77-87

   4. Urban Gardening Practices and Culture

      • Nancy A. Nix

      Pages 89-100

   5. Nature Contact, Health, and the Built Environment

      • Jerry Smith

      Pages 101-105

   6. A Case Study: Advancing Public Health through Gardens for Healthy Communities (GHC) in New York City: The Role of Anti-obesity Objectives in Urban Agriculture Policy

      • Yolanda Gonzalez, Matthew Potteiger, Anne Bellows, Evan Weissman, Carolin Mees

      Pages 107-118

5. Managing the Risks of Urban Agriculture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 119-119

      PDF

   2. Assessing and Communicating the Risks and Benefits of Community Participation in Urban Agriculture

      • Elizabeth Hodges Snyder, John F. Obrycki

      Pages 121-134

   3. Modeling to Predict High Pb Areas

      • Kirsten Schwarz

      Pages 135-145

   4. Screening for Soil Lead Using a Common Soil Test Method

      • John F. Obrycki, Kristen K. Minca, Nicholas T. Basta

      Pages 147-154

   5. Mechanisms to Reduce Risk Potential

      • Ganga M. Hettiarachchi, Chammi P. Attanayake, Phillip P. Defoe, Sabine E. Martin

      Pages 155-170

   6. A Case Study: Potential Health Risks Posed by Eating Eggs from Free Range Chickens in New York City

      • Henry M. Spliethoff

      Pages 171-176

6. Democracy, Ethics, and Sovereignty in Urban Agriculture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177

      PDF

   2. Common Roots: Urban Agriculture’s Potential for Cultivating Deep Democracy

      • David W. McIvor, James Hale

      Pages 179-188

A majority of the world’s population lives in cities. Urban areas have largely been disconnected from the processes associated with producing food. A broad range of community efforts have emerged to reconnect people in urban areas to fresh foods with expected benefits for public health.  These efforts can be found in cities across the country and cross both economic and ethnic lines. They have been led by the non- scientific community and are best characterized as social movements. Expansion of agriculture to non- traditional areas including community or kitchen gardens in urban or peri- urban environments has the potential to provide a range of ecosystem services as well as reduce stressors on non- urban environments. These services/benefits include improved public health, improved human nutrition and diet, large-scale production of renewable resources, increased food security with less resilience on traditional agricultural landscapes and seascapes, enhanced ecosystem function in urban areas, and increased public appreciation for and understanding of ecosystem services.  ​

• ecosystem education
• public health
• renewable resources
• urban agriculture
• Seeds

• Department of Health Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, USA

  Elizabeth Hodges Snyder

• Harvest Pierce County, Pierce Conservation District, Puyallup, USA

  Kristen McIvor

• School of Environmental & Forest Science, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

  Sally Brown

Elizabeth Hodges Snyder is an Assistant Professor of Public Health and the Master of Public Health Program Coordinator at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  She also serves as co-chair of the Alaska Food Policy Council (AFPC).  Dr. Snyder is trained in environmental health (MPH, Global Environmental Health, Emory University, 2004) and soil and water science (PhD, Soil and Water Science, University of Florida, 2009).  Her career began with a focus on environmental contaminant fate and transport, and human and ecological risk assessment, but her research program and teaching agenda has since evolved to address the fields of food security and health impact assessment.  She has co-authored several works on food security in Alaska; supervises graduate student projects addressing food access, availability, and utilization; and advocates for strengthened rural and urban food systems.  Originally from Florida, Dr. Snyder has adjusted well to the climate of Alaska – successfully raising backyard chickens, utilizing vertical drip irrigation to produce greenhouse tomatoes, growing beautiful peonies, chasing moose out of her raised beds, and instilling in her children a love for Alaska Grown carrots made sugar-sweet in the cold soil.

Kristen McIvor is the director of Harvest Pierce County, a program of the Pierce Conservation District.  Their mission is to invest in people to foster and sustain an equitable and healthy community-based food system throughout Pierce County.  She is also an adjunct professor at Antioch University Seattle where she teaches classes on food systems.  Dr. McIvor got her MS at Antioch in Environment and Community and her PhD at the University of Washington.  Her academic work has focused on improving soils in urban areas to support the growing of food, and much of her time is spent working with community groups to do just that.  She lives in the drippy Pacific Northwest and loves its mild climate for year-round growing.  In her spare time, she gets her hands dirty as often as she can, and loves preparing and sharing the bounty of her garden with her family and friends.

Sally L Brown is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Forest and Environmental Science.  She is a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America, was a two- term member of the National Academy of Science Standing Committee on Soil Science and a member on the National Academy of Science Committee on the Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediments.  She has won multiple awards for her work on residuals use in soils.  Dr. Brown writes a monthly column for Biocycle Magazine, a journal that focuses on sustainable management of organics.  She has a BA in Political Science from Williams College (1980) and a MS (1993) and PhD (1996)from the University of Maryland.  Before returning to graduate school, she worked as a chef in New York City, New Orleans and Connecticut.  In 1986 she started a business delivering locally grown vegetables to stores and restaurants in New York City and Connecticut.  She currently grows greens, onions, potatoes and currants on two plots near her home with the assistance of her husband and Tagro, the biosolids based soil amendment from Tacoma, WA.

Policies and ethics