Munching the Median Could Be Good for IA Food Security
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September 14, 2009
DAVENPORT, Iowa - The harvest season is underway in some communities around Iowa where public spaces like parks and street easements have been put to work as gardens. Darrin Nordahl, a city designer in Davenport, thinks there should be more of that, and he has written a book called "Public Produce: The New Urban Agriculture." In it he encourages cities to do public plantings of everything from grapes to corn to tomatoes, and he says this is unlike traditional community gardens.
"What we are seeing now is not so much the vacant lot or a back corner of a little-used park, but the very intensely-populated downtown plaza or even a busy street."
He says that just as city workers now mow grass or trim trees in such areas as street easements, they could also tend gardens, where the fruit and vegetables produced would then be available to anyone. According to Nordahl, in a world of diminishing oil reserves and climate change, growing food in public spaces makes sense.
"What we're trying to promote here, providing fresh food at a lower cost for the public, involves food security. What we're finding is that the large-scale agriculture endeavors aren't as safe as we'd like to believe."
Nordahl believes farming on urban public land will supplement traditional agriculture. The city of Davenport has approved spending $370,000 to turn part of a downtown parking area into a public garden.
Darrin Nordahl's book comes out September 25th. There will be a conference on community food security in Des Moines October 10-13.