Urban Agriculture: A Tool for Creating Economic Development andHealthy Communities

Appendix A Definition of urban agriculture Although there are many definitions of urban agriculture by various organizations and authorities, a commonly accepted definition is yet to be developed. The following is a compilation of commonly cited definitions of urban agriculture: Urban Agriculture (UA) is an activity that produces, processes, and markets food and other products, largely in response to the daily demand of consumers within a town, city, or metropolis, on land and water in urban and peri-urban areas, applying intensive production methods, using and reusing natural resources and urban wastes, to yield a diversity of crops and livestock. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Urban and peri-urban agriculture are agriculture practices within and around cities which compete for resources (land, water, energy, labour) that could also serve other purposes to satisfy the requirements of the urban population. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Committee on Agriculture Urban agriculture is a complex system encompassing a spectrum of interests, from a traditional core of activities associated with the production, processing, marketing, distribution, and consumption, to a multiplicity of other benefits and services that are less widely acknowledged and documented. Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Urban agriculture can be defined shortly as the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and around cities. Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) Urban agriculture can be defined as a small business that is located within or very close to a town, a city, or a metropolitan area which grows or raises food and non-food products.

These products are then processed and distributed very close to where they were produced, usually within the same urban area and often within the same neighborhood or city block. Generally, urban agricultural methods focus on recycling nutrients, improving soil, and encouraging plant and animal growth without the use of hazardous chemicals.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Urban Agriculture is an industry located within (intra-urban) or on the fringe (periurban) of a town, an urban centre, a city or metropolis, which grows or raises, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products, reusing mainly human and material resources, products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human and material resources, products and services largely to that urban area.

Luc J. A. Mougeot, International Development Research Center (IDRC) Urban agriculture is the growing, processing, and distribution of food and other products through intensive plant cultivation and animal husbandry in and around cities.

Community Food Security Coalition’s (CFSC) Urban Agriculture Committee 116 Urban Agriculture