5 ms·

The associated benefits cannot be overstated: education, beauty, community, a connection to nature, health, and most assuredly tasting better. Urban community g

by bluthru 12y ago

The associated benefits cannot be overstated: education, beauty, community, a connection to nature, health, and most assuredly tasting better. Urban community gardens are a very worthwhile pursuit. People should be encouraged to garden with their lawns instead of using so much wasteful, non-native grass. Long term I hope to see LED-powered warehouses for urban produce production: http://www.ledinside.com/news/2014/7/japanese_farmer_partners_with_ge_to_develop_world_largest_led_indoor_farm http://www.ledinside.com/news/2014/7/japanese_farmer_partner... Fresh, local, efficient, and no need for pesticides.

sirseal 12y ago
Local urban farming is not assured to produce healthier nor tastier food. That squarely lies in the hands of the farmer. Farming is a skill; most people are not good at it. LED powered farmhouses would be nice. But going back to the person that you commented on, now we're making energy to give to plants, instead of using the sun directly to make plants. This has the potential (especially in today's economy) to increase the carbon footprint of urban growing. Certainly local. Fresh most likely. Efficient? Not so simple, probably not as efficient. And unless you're using GMOs that are resistant to invasive insect species, you'll still need pesticides (or lots of human hours....which severely decreases efficiency and increases cost).
- angersock 12y ago
  It's a more robust food source if your supply chains break down or are subject to things like oil price increases. Pests can be controlled with careful selection of plants and other factors--you don't need to douse your plants with chemicals in a lot of cases.
- dubfan 12y ago
  > And unless you're using GMOs that are resistant to invasive insect species, you'll still need pesticides (or lots of human hours....which severely decreases efficiency and increases cost). And good luck convincing pseudo-environmentalists that GMOs aren't evil.
- beamatronic 12y ago
  "That squarely lies in the hands of the farmer. Farming is a skill;" I want to believe. However most food production is now controlled by large corporations.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- bluthru 12y ago
  >Local urban farming is not assured to produce healthier nor tastier food. That squarely lies in the hands of the farmer. Farming is a skill; most people are not good at it. One word: tomato. Supermarket tomatoes are grown to survive shipping. Tomatoes that you grow yourself are always more delicious. I'm not sure why I was downvoted without an explanation. What I've stated is 100% factual: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118455,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118455,0...
  - evilduck 12y ago
    Because you can't generalize from a single datapoint. Tomatoes are pretty much the extreme example of this where it favors home grown plants. There's a large swath of plants where they aren't likely to be clearly better, and some where they're likely to be worse than the ones grown at scale (i.e. try growing an Apple tree from seed).
    - pdabbadabba 12y ago
      Yes but, generally speaking, urban farmers know which crops are worth growing and which ones aren't. This is why you won't find many of them attempting to grow apple trees, and a whole lot of them growing tomato and basil. Except for the occassional case of an idiot urban farmer (or, more kindly, an overly ambitious), it makes no sense to criticize urban farming on the ground that not all potential crops can be grown better in one's back yard. (Except the relatively extreme view that all agriculture can be replaced with people growing crops in their back yard -- a view that I've never heard a person espouse.)
- GregBuchholz 12y ago
  > you'll still need pesticides (or lots of human hours. Searching for "arduino laser insect control" doesn't come up with a lot hits (but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser) ...yet.
  - blacksmith_tb 12y ago
    Ah, but v2 of my Arduino Mosquito laser system will get a lot more hits, I promise! (Sorry about your dog, though)
- Qworg 12y ago
  Most of these are closed systems - no need for pesticides or any human hours. The insects simply cannot get in.
normloman 12y ago
Not saying urban gardens aren't beautiful or enlightening. But people are advocating local food grown in urban gardens for environmental and health reasons. I want to show that this is false, except in a few exceptional cases. Your link is one of them. But realize that hydroponics isn't most people's idea of urban farming. Also, there are drawbacks to the hydroponic approach (energy costs for lighting, manufacture of nutrient solution). That said, there's a lot of potential in hydroponics, especially when you combine it with renewable energy, and I hope it continues to spread.

by bluthru 12y ago

sirseal 12y ago

Local urban farming is not assured to produce healthier nor tastier food. That squarely lies in the hands of the farmer. Farming is a skill; most people are not good at it. LED powered farmhouses would be nice. But going back to the person that you commented on, now we're making energy to give to plants, instead of using the sun directly to make plants. This has the potential (especially in today's economy) to increase the carbon footprint of urban growing. Certainly local. Fresh most likely. Efficient? Not so simple, probably not as efficient. And unless you're using GMOs that are resistant to invasive insect species, you'll still need pesticides (or lots of human hours....which severely decreases efficiency and increases cost).

angersock 12y ago
It's a more robust food source if your supply chains break down or are subject to things like oil price increases. Pests can be controlled with careful selection of plants and other factors--you don't need to douse your plants with chemicals in a lot of cases.
dubfan 12y ago
> And unless you're using GMOs that are resistant to invasive insect species, you'll still need pesticides (or lots of human hours....which severely decreases efficiency and increases cost). And good luck convincing pseudo-environmentalists that GMOs aren't evil.
beamatronic 12y ago
"That squarely lies in the hands of the farmer. Farming is a skill;" I want to believe. However most food production is now controlled by large corporations.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
bluthru 12y ago
>Local urban farming is not assured to produce healthier nor tastier food. That squarely lies in the hands of the farmer. Farming is a skill; most people are not good at it. One word: tomato. Supermarket tomatoes are grown to survive shipping. Tomatoes that you grow yourself are always more delicious. I'm not sure why I was downvoted without an explanation. What I've stated is 100% factual: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118455,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118455,0...
- evilduck 12y ago
  Because you can't generalize from a single datapoint. Tomatoes are pretty much the extreme example of this where it favors home grown plants. There's a large swath of plants where they aren't likely to be clearly better, and some where they're likely to be worse than the ones grown at scale (i.e. try growing an Apple tree from seed).
  - pdabbadabba 12y ago
    Yes but, generally speaking, urban farmers know which crops are worth growing and which ones aren't. This is why you won't find many of them attempting to grow apple trees, and a whole lot of them growing tomato and basil. Except for the occassional case of an idiot urban farmer (or, more kindly, an overly ambitious), it makes no sense to criticize urban farming on the ground that not all potential crops can be grown better in one's back yard. (Except the relatively extreme view that all agriculture can be replaced with people growing crops in their back yard -- a view that I've never heard a person espouse.)
GregBuchholz 12y ago
> you'll still need pesticides (or lots of human hours. Searching for "arduino laser insect control" doesn't come up with a lot hits (but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser) ...yet.
- blacksmith_tb 12y ago
  Ah, but v2 of my Arduino Mosquito laser system will get a lot more hits, I promise! (Sorry about your dog, though)
Qworg 12y ago
Most of these are closed systems - no need for pesticides or any human hours. The insects simply cannot get in.

normloman 12y ago

Not saying urban gardens aren't beautiful or enlightening. But people are advocating local food grown in urban gardens for environmental and health reasons. I want to show that this is false, except in a few exceptional cases. Your link is one of them. But realize that hydroponics isn't most people's idea of urban farming. Also, there are drawbacks to the hydroponic approach (energy costs for lighting, manufacture of nutrient solution). That said, there's a lot of potential in hydroponics, especially when you combine it with renewable energy, and I hope it continues to spread.