The Benefits of Urban Agriculture

• Nutrition: Urban agriculture offers increased access to healthy, locally grown, and culturally appropriate food sources. Having space to grow and share food is especially important in underserved neighborhoods. Plus, growing and eating food locally reduces the distance food travels to our plates – which is good for our climate and our health, as food loses nutritional value in transport.

• Health: While eating fresh food is beneficial in and of itself, the act of growing that food also boosts physical, mental, and spiritual health. Research shows that working with plants — and putting our hands in the dirt — provides outdoor physical activity, induces relaxation, and reduces stress, anxiety, blood pressure, and muscle tension.

• Community: Urban farming adds and preserves green space in cities, providing places for neighbors to come together, strengthen bonds, and build community cohesion. Urban agriculture connects people with the earth and the source of their food as well as with each other. What’s more, urban farms offer critical opportunities for youth leadership, inter-generational collaboration, and cross-cultural learning.

• Environment: Urban agriculture improves environmental health and climate resilience in the face of increasing storms and heat. Cultivated land absorbs rainfall, preventing storm water from overloading sewer systems and polluting waterways. Also, by increasing vegetation and tree cover, farms and gardens attract pollinators like bees and keep city neighborhoods cooler, minimizing the health impacts of heat island effect.

https://www.clf.org/blog/the-power-of-urban-agriculture-in-transforming-a-community/