Urban Agriculture

Characteristics of Urban Agriculture

Scholars debate the precise definition of urban and peri-urban, but the definitions are always relational, depending on such things as population density and infrastructure development (particularly transit). As a result, “urban agriculture” itself is loosely defined. Within dense city centers, urban agriculture is readily apparent. Urban agriculture is often defined as any agricultural production that occurs on land with other viable land use options, whereas rural agriculture occupies land that is not threatened by other land uses. Peri-urban agriculture takes advantage of land availability on the urban fringe, particularly on the edges of expanding cities, enjoying close proximity to both labor and markets. Urban agriculture also includes various processing, marketing, and service activities and may be conducted by individuals or by groups of people as a for-profit activity, by state officials, and increasingly, by not-for-profit and nongovernmental organizations.

An examination of the defining characteristics of urban agriculture facilitates an understanding of its place-specific formations within individual cities. Urban farms vary by the actors involved, the types of goods produced, the location of projects, the technological scale of the project, and the form of distribution and economic integration.

The urban poor are the primary actors in urban agricultural activities. Urban farmers are often rural immigrants, people of color, and/or women. In some cases, particularly in the global North, professionals from nongovernmental organizations, lower-level state officials, and schoolteachers are also involved. Throughout the world, women constitute an important segment of urban farmers, as women are most often responsible for household reproduction and combine food provisioning, farm work, and related activities (i.e., preparing, processing, and marketing) with other household labor. Urban agriculture does not readily combine with traditional wage labor, which requires long commutes and long hours, but as more people (particularly women) enter the wage relation, urban farmers are beginning to face this difficult reality.

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