老司机直播

老司机直播 Scarborough explores how urban agriculture intersects with social justice

community garden
A summit hosted at 老司机直播 Scarborough this month looked at urban agriculture and the role of community gardens in Toronto (photo by Ken Jones)

As Toronto continues to grow, urban agriculture may play a more significant role for people seeking alternative sources of nutritious and affordable food, 老司机直播 researcher Colleen Hammelman says.  

Hammelman has examined urban agriculture in such cities as Medell铆n, Colombia, and Washington, D.C. She explored the role of urban agriculture in the GTA and social justice at a one-day conference organized at 老司机直播 Scarborough this month. 

鈥淯rban agriculture brings a lot of value to a city, especially in terms of sustainability, but a key element is how social justice also fits into the conversation,鈥 says Hammelman.

While urban agriculture is widely practiced in many respects, it鈥檚 also misunderstood, particularly the important role it plays in migrant communities both culturally and nutritionally, notes Hammelman, who is a post-doc researcher at 老司机直播 Scarborough's Culinaria Research Centre.

From her experience, urban agriculture not only supplements food budgets by giving access to fresh food many can鈥檛 afford, but it also provides 鈥渟paces of community resilience鈥 where residents can come together for a common purpose.

鈥淐ommunity gardens also provide important avenues of support for new Canadians,鈥 she adds.

The conference featured a variety of speakers including Kristin Reynolds, author of Beyond the Kale, and Toronto Councillor Mary Fragedakis, along with members of various community organizations like Black Creek Community Farm, Toronto Urban Growers and AccessPoint Alliance. Undergraduate and graduate geography students also had a chance to meet with participants to talk about how social justice fits into the conversation around the urban agriculture movement.

There are about 200 spaces ranging in size that are designated for community gardens across Toronto where people can grow food.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an active and growing movement in the city, but there are challenges in trying to expand,鈥 says Hammelman, pointing to resources needed for starting up a garden and finding adequate spaces and clean soil, which is no easy feat given Toronto鈥檚 industrial past.

She pointed to work being done by Malvern Action for Neighbourhood Change in supporting three community gardens and collaborating with other organizations for a project that will establish market farms in Hydro corridors as microenterprises. The work being done there in creating community gardens focuses a lot on addressing some of the food security issues in Malvern.

Hammelman sees the university playing a role in working together with community partners to help navigate some of the challenges involved in establishing opportunities for urban agriculture. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 work to be done on making sure people growing food in community gardens can be adequately compensated for their labour, but also ensuring that the food being grown is still affordable for those who need it,鈥 she says.  

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