A recent study found that a city could completely live off food grown from urban agriculture. Sharanbir Grewal, the study's author, discovered in his analysis of Cleveland that the city could produce up to 48 percent of the city's fresh produce.
Grewal's solution to increase the output from urban agriculture is based on converting vacant lots into farms, and residential lots producing crops.
"In the first scenario, Grewal found that if Cleveland converted 80% of its vacant lots into farms it could produce 22% to 48% of the city's demand for fresh produce (vegetables and fruits) depending on the type of farming. It could also produce 25% of poultry and shell eggs, and 100% of honey.
"In addition, if Cleveland used 80% of every vacant lot and 9% of every occupied residential lot, the city could generate between 31% and 68% of the needed fresh produce, 94% of poultry and shell eggs, and 100% of honey."
"Growing food in the city would also keep $29-115 million in the local economy."
FULL STORY: Could cities rely 100% on urban agriculture for their food?
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City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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