It is apparent that large cities are becoming our main target and our major habitat. Many people are moving to the cities and are settling there. Many of us are turning into urban species. Global urban population is expanding and the demand for food is increasing. Many of us are looking for what is healthy. Factors that can provide us of healthy life are numerous, one of them is having and eating local food that is growing in our areas. Lately, the term “local food movement” has been a strong reason and motive for individuals when deciding where to spend their money. Farming is not a term that is just common in rural regions, farming is not a practice that can be only done in rural areas, cities can also practice farming and agriculture in its unused lands. Urban agriculture provides many benefits for the residents who enjoy its healthy products, the economy, as well as the community that it is practiced in; for this reason, it should be practiced more. Most cities in the United States are missing fresh and locally grown produce, the opportunities of finding these products in the ci...
RNRA Team, “Supermarkets, Fresh Produce and New Commodity Chains: What Future for the Small Producer?” Hot Topics: February, 2004.
Newburgh is a perfect location for new and growing food manufacturers since there is access to plentiful water, premium raw materials and world famous colleges. The city is within a two-hour drive to many customers. Being located in New York, which is the world’s biggest food distribution center, Newburgh has become a food market base for people living in this region (Moss, 2013). The city has a growing system of food
Urban farming is the practice of growing and harvesting crops in urbanised areas such as, cities or towns. Urban farms are extremely beneficial, as they utilise unused space in efficient ways. For instance, vertical and rooftop gardens use minimal space and make use of areas that would otherwise be unused, providing a range of fresh, healthy produce. Many people around the world rely on food sourced from urban farms and local gardens. Farmers markets are a rapidly growing trend and provide fresh, quality produce to food insecure households, they are most common in rural and urban areas, as these communities may not have easy access to large food stores or supermarkets. The produce sourced from local farmers markets are fresh, and often picked either the night before or that morning, compared to supermarkets where the fruit and vegetables lose valuable nutrients and antioxidants after being pickled and sitting for days. With the produce being locally sourced, much of the money is transferred back into the local economy. Farmers markets create job opportunities and the ability to make profit and create food security. Urban Farms and farmers markets both positively contribute to the idea of food security by supplying quality, fresh produce
Food Export Association of the Midwest USA and Food Export USA – Northeast 2011, Retrieved May 27, 2011, from http://www.foodexport.org/GettingStarted/Content.cfm?ItemNumber=1288. Kerin, R.A., Hartley, S.W., Rudelius, W. (2009). Marketing (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Style Communications Pty Ltd 2010, Retrieved May 18, 2011, from http://www.stylecommunications
One benefit of local food is that it can satisfy current needs of consumers better than the mass-produced food. These days, many consumers are concerned about their health and well-being. Therefore, they want to know exactly about what products they are consuming. The attempt to consume locally grown food makes it possible for the consumers to be clearly aware of the process of food production. Theoretically, the farmlands of local food are available within the living space of community members, which makes it possible for the residents to know the person who is in charge of production. Furthermore, consumers can easily visit the producing area. This is in contrast with mass production due to the fact that major companies tend to keep their method as a secret or reveal only a limited amount of information
The United States Department of Agriculture has produced an interactive map which highlights areas of low income and low access to healthy food. As you can see in Figure 2, the problem persists throughout the country across cities and rural areas. The map provided as...
It was in the 1945’s post Second World War period I learnt a lot about the value of food, digestion and wellness. At that time in the environment of my youth, home grown food was common place. Each household knew at least how to grow and preserve vegetables and fruits mainly utilising the Sun’s energy.
In fact, high quality food, like organic or farmers grown, usually can be found at the large grocery stores or at special markets. Some neighborhoods have no access to grocery stores or farmer markets without necessity of driving. Residents, especially without cars, very often have limited choices of fresh fruits, vegetables or milk products at their corner stores. Moreover, healthy, good quality products, like organic, usually
“Maximum consumers prefer local shops to superior supermarkets because of closeness, personal care, fresh, on time, and lower prices. Approximately 95 percent of consumers needs fresh fruits and vegetables”.
Urban growth is changing the face of the earth and the condition of humanity. In one century, global urban populations have expanded from 15 to 50% of the total, which itself has gone up from 1.5 to nearly 6 billion” (Deelstra/ Girardet). In a world of cultural scientific knowledge and industrialization, establishing agriculture into the ever-growing urban communities is essential and can nurture social consensus, economic and environmental merits that can be distributed plentifully. One of the most popular and world recognized urban communities, New York City is an ideal urban community with its mass production of practically everything manufactured and population rates. Due to its sweeping population, New York City is faced with many environmental crises’ like water and air pollution, but with a “green” movement in full swing, many urban community members are doing their part to combat these ecological predicaments like a rise in air pollution....
The trend of the Slow Food Movement has existed since the 1970’s but has recently been thrusted into the fore front of prominent world issues as the cause and remedy of environmental challenges, local economic circumstances, and the complexities with social norms. The Slow Food Movement can be considered a counter-trend to Fast food. It was created in response to the augmentation of fast food a culture, the diminishment of people caring where the food comes from, and the diminishment of local food traditions. After a close examination of these factors, a prediction is made of the future trends of Slow Food Movement, and how the Slow Movement concept will evolve to become a part of everyday life.
In past research, data available on street food only focuses on the consumption and sources to the millions of people but least focuses on students buying behavior. This subject will contribute in identifying the major element that may influence student buying behavior towards street food. Other than that, this also help pave way for further research to be done to extend the knowledge and understanding the street food and its nutrition to the consumers. It helps as an eye-opener on consumers’ perception about nutrition and the application of nutritional knowledge in their daily
Have you ever considered what is in the food you are feeding your children? Most foods that are bought at the neighborhood grocery stores are considered global foods which are packed with additives and chemicals making them far less nutritious than local produce from the community farmer‘s market. After much research, I have concluded that it is better to buy produce which is grown locally rather than produce which is sourced globally (from other countries). I think this is important because most people, like myself, buy global foods and do not realize how much better local foods are for the local economy, the global environment, and our personal nutrition. Nutrition is vital to the healthy of everyone especially children, so with the purchase of local fresh produce, it can ease the worry in parents of what children as well as ourselves are ingesting.
In 2009, the United States Department of Agriculture launched the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, an agency-wide attempt to generate new economic opportunities by improving the connection between consumers and local producers. As part of the enterprise, an abundance of funding efforts and programs were publicized to aid farmers, help consumers access nutritious foods, and support rural community growth. Federal, State, and local government programs increasingly support local food systems (Martinez). Today’s consumers are evidently more interested than ever in what they eat and where their food comes from (Tropp).
This can be enhanced through promoting small holder production mostly in rural areas. In Chivi, emphasis must be given to small grains production due to their ability to survive in harsh conditions. Chivi District is characterised with recurrent droughts and rainfall variability which has consistently reduced agricultural production in the area and resulted in high levels of food insecurity. The production of finger millet in Chivi has increased food accessibility to those farmers who have adopted this production. Finger millet and sorghum are drought resistant crops and this has made them to be more preferable in dry and hot areas like Chivi. Farmers that produce small grains harvest better even in bad seasons and this will promote their food security. Households that produce small grains, food accessibility is within their reach. This shows that small grain farmers can no longer go without food as compared to farmers who produce