Urban farming refers to practicing agriculture in developed areas like cities. Anyone in a city can be an urban farmer, and it doesn’t have to be a large-scale operation.
Urban farming has contributed a lot to the community and has helped many individuals on a personal level. Aside from the fact that urban farming provides healthy food for personal consumption, there are many other benefits associated with urban farming.
This post will show you some of the benefits of urban farming. Some of the advantages of urban farming go beyond simply growing fresh produce; it also has social and health benefits, and we’ll look at them shortly.
Benefits Of Urban Farming
If you’re yet to start urban farming or wondering how it helps, we have prepared some practical advantages you can enjoy.
Available Market
If you’re growing crops for sale, urban farming offers you a great advantage. Most urban areas are packed, and the population is usually on the high side.
As an urban farmer, you are surrounded by potential consumers. This means that you can easily sell your products to those around you. Unlike traditional farmers that have large farms in remote areas, you’re not burdened by the extra cost of transportation and the uncertainty of making sales.
Urban farming makes it easy for you to deliver your products directly to your consumers without needing a third-party intermediary. Also, this allows you to build a personal relationship with your consumers, and you can develop a stronger business relationship.
Adaptable
When we say urban farming is adaptable, we mean it can be practiced in several ways with little limitation.
An example of adaptability is the location of the farm. You can start an urban farm anywhere, as long as there is space. You don’t need large spans of land to start growing your crops; you can use your rooftop, backyard, lawn, extra rooms, shipping containers, and any other location with space.
Adaptability is an advantage urban farming has over traditional farming because you won’t actually need a lot of space. Also, adaptability saves you extra cost because you don’t need to buy large spaces before you can start growing.
Another form of adaptability is the personnel. Urban farming can be done by one person or several people, depending on the farmer’s desire; it is a great way to create employment opportunities and train people in new skills.
Less Financial Burden
Another benefit of starting an urban farm is its cost-effectiveness. You don’t need a lot of capital to start an urban farm; aside from the seeds and other basic farming tools, there is no other reason to spend. The space you’ll need to farm is already part of your home, so you won’t have to pay anything in addition to your typical rent or mortgage.
Traditional farming requires a lot of capital because you’d need to buy large-scale farming equipment, large plots of land, transportation, and other operational costs. After spending so much, there would be pressure on the farmer to succeed and make a profit, but all these worries are absent with urban farming.
Aside from the low cost of operation, urban farming also builds extra space into your budget. It costs a lot to get fresh fruits and vegetables from our local stores, but with urban farming, these costs are reduced substantially. Urban farming provides you with fresh food all year round so you’ll no longer have to spend a dime on store-bought greens.
You can also sell some of your proceeds as a secondary source of income to lessen your financial burden.
Acquire A New Skill
In today’s world, it is not enough to only have a degree. You must learn a skill because it will open up more opportunities. A unique skill will make it easier for you to make money, and what better skill is there than farming?
Urban farming is an important skill because no matter what happens, everybody will eat. Food is an indispensable part of our lives, and we have no choice but to spend money to get it. If you know how to grow crops, you already have a skill that will always be in demand.
Furthermore, you can easily pass this skill down to your kids in a practical way. Getting the kids to help you in the garden is an easy way to teach them about urban gardening. By doing that, you’ll already be setting them up to be successful as adults.
Maximizing Space
Living in the city leaves you with little space to spare, which would be a major problem for traditional farmers. Urban farming is not limited by space. The idea of urban farming is to grow plants within your living area, and you don’t need much space.
You can easily grow crops in your backyard, on your rooftop, in an empty container, or in well-lit spare rooms; vertical gardening is also a style of urban farming. In vertical farming, you grow plants vertically on shelves.
Vertical gardening is one of the common forms of urban farming because it is designed for very small spaces. You can also adopt the hydroponic cultivation method; this method eliminates the need for soil and uses special growth water.
Healthy Living
Unfortunately, most of the food out there is detrimental to our health. Most of these food materials are processed, removing the nutritional value. Some of the production processes of these foods also leave dangerous residues and chemicals.
We can see the poor state of nutrition in today’s society from the numerous illnesses running rampant around us. To some degree, most of these diseases stem from fast and processed food. Some of these processed fruits and vegetables have chemicals intended to increase their shelf life, and many of these additives are very harmful.
Urban gardening provides us with an avenue to healthy eating. By growing your crop, you have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and you can say goodbye to processed or canned goods. You can also share some of your harvests with your friends and family to help them eat healthy food.
Constant Supply Of Fresh Food
Another advantage of urban gardening is having a steady supply of healthy food. Urban gardening makes it possible to grow crops all year round. Irrespective of the weather or season, there will always be a plant that can strive in the present condition.
Also, urban farming makes it possible to grow some crops when not in season. With techniques like hydroponic farming, you can grow any crop anytime without worrying about the time of the year.
You and your community will have a steady supply of fresh greens with urban farming. This is also beneficial if you’re selling the products from your garden because if you take the right measures, you will always have goods to sell when they’re out of season.
Builds Community
Sadly, the urban lifestyle encourages seclusion and poor interaction with those around us. Back in the day, community meant a lot, and everybody did what they could to build relationships with others.
Urban gardening is a great way to restore the community love that was once a major part of our development. An urban garden can bring people together under the guise of cultivating plants and learning new skills.
Research shows that sentimental values begin to develop when people work on a project together for an extended time. Urban gardening is a project that most of the work he community can perform, which is a great way to build interpersonal relationships. Also, this is a good lesson for the young ones, who can start learning the importance of cooperation and good relations.
Increases Value Of Property
Many people are now aware of the importance of eating healthy, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. Urban gardens are a great source of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially when supplied to the community.
Having an urban garden is a great way to boost the value of the community. You’ll be surprised to hear that people now consider the presence of a community garden when looking for a place to settle.
Also, a well-tended garden in your house can increase the market price, especially if you sell to a garden-lover.
Cleaner Air
Sadly, industrialization and technological advancements have greatly affected our ecosystem. The air we breathe is more polluted thanks to exhaust and other carbon footprints. However, having a garden in your house is an effective way to purify the air.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and give us oxygen in return. Oxygen is what keeps us alive. If everybody had a garden in their homes, it would go a long way to cleaning the air. Cultivating plants in your home gives you cleaner, more pure air.
Urban Farming Benefits: Conclusion
Urban farming is a great opportunity for you and the community in which you live. We’ve defined urban farming as growing crops in urban areas, which can be in different forms. Some examples are vertical gardening and hydroponic farming.
There are several urban farming benefits, and we’ve looked at some of them. You can start enjoying fresh food at no cost and also make extra money from growing crops in the comfort of your home. Learn more about garden life here.
