![]() Ground-based outdoor urban agriculture is particularly common in cities with large amounts of vacant land, such as Baltimore and Detroit. Slower growing crops (like fruit trees) or livestock (like oysters) can be important parts of an urban agriculture system, but their slow life cycles mean that they consume more space and time per unit of food produced than faster-growing crops and livestock.įigure 2: Lettuce being grown in a high tunnel at Strength to Love 2, in Baltimore, MD. The last point is important to maximize the amount of income or food produced per square foot. 2018).Īcross all production systems, the types of crops and livestock that fit most easily into an urban agriculture business are ones that are physically small, thrive in small spaces and challenging growing conditions, and have fast life cycles. ![]() Hydroponic or aquaponic indoor productionĪ recent survey of urban farmers in Maryland found that the majority grew vegetables, fruits, and cut flowers in land-based production systems using raised-beds, in-ground growing, and high tunnels (Little et al.Picture taken at Whitelock Community Farm, Baltimore, MD by Neith Little, UMD Extension.Īlthough any one individual urban farm might use multiple methods to grow crops and raise livestock, urban agriculture production systems can be broadly categorized as Production systems Figure 1: Outdoor urban agriculture can be done in raised beds or containers, in-ground in native or imported soil, and in high tunnels or hoop houses. This chapter will focus on the scale and challenges most relevant to urban farmers and urban agriculture entrepreneurs who sell what they produce (whether for-profit or not-for-profit). This chapter will describe the types of production systems used in urban agriculture and introduce important topics that an urban farmer will need to consider to successfully produce a product for sale and manage production risks.Īs described in the introduction, urban agriculture is diverse and includes a wide variety of production systems and business models. Important non-production agricultural activities include financial planning, marketing, complying with legal responsibilities, and managing human resources (see the other chapters of this guidebook) In agricultural contexts, the word production is used as short-hand to refer to all the activities involved in physically growing, raising, or making the products (vegetables, flowers, meat, eggs, hot sauce, an agritourism experience, etc.) that will eventually be sold. ![]()
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