Urban Farming Archives – Countercurrents

Practicing Commons In Community Gardens: Urban Gardening As A Corrective For Homo Economicus

“In these times of ever more blatant marketing of public space, the aspiration to plant potatoes precisely there – and without restricting entry – is nothing less than revolutionary,” writes Sabine Rohlf in her book review of Urban Gardening.1 Indeed, we can observe the return of gardens to the city everywhere and see it as an expression of a changing relationship[Read More…]

by Christa Muller — 1 comment — Counter Solutions

Four Important Lessons From Cuba’s Urban Food Survival Strategy

Cuba has come a long way since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the loss of imports crucial for the island nation’s industrial agriculture system—such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers—left Cuba with a severe food crisis in the 1990s. Today, Cuba has become a regional leader in sustainable agricultural research. Within its practices and institutions lies a model for[Read More…]

by Aurel Keller — 1 comment — Counter Solutions

30 Ways Cities Can Prepare For Global Warming

There’s a good reason (actually, 30 good reasons covered here, plus at least 90 others to be discussed in later issues) why no-one has been able to come up with a better term for what’s called “urban agriculture.”

by Wayne Roberts — 1 comment — Counter Solutions

Community members working in the La Columna community garden, Merida, Venezuela. by Tamara Pearson

In Venezuela’s Difficult Times The Grassroots Are Stronger

It’s been three years now of food shortages, inflation, and queues in Venezuela, and the millions of people involved in community and movement organizing have been the most affected. But they’ve also defied right-wing and general expectations, and even perhaps the expectations of the Maduro government, and have become stronger and better organized as a result of the hardships. ‘We can[Read More…]

by Tamara Pearson — 1 comment — Counter Solutions

Viva la Producción! Urban Farming In Cuba

Urban farming has gained momentum in recent years as a result of increased awareness of environmental issues and the desire to feed people living in cities sustainably. For Cuba in the 1990s, however,the shift to an urban agricultural economy was a matter of life or death. The Plaza de la Revolución is supposed to embody the spirit of revolutionary Cuba.[Read More…]

by Josh Gabbatiss — Comments are Disabled — Counter Solutions