European researcher gives a thumbs up to local urban agriculture initiatives

On a recent visit to Melbourne, RMIT Europe research fellow Nevelina Pachova spoke with a number of local urban agriculture institutions promoting similar approaches to her own work in Europe.

She said she was impressed with the level of organisation they had and "that importance they're giving it" for the city.

Ms Pachova had previously worked in participatory planning and governance relating to rural development and agricultural systems.

Her work with RMIT Europe's innovation hub, based in Barcelona, helped establish teams across different cities to co-create edible solutions and embed them in cities through living labs and participatory planning.

"My personal perspective is that it's an essential part of the development of a city... and there are people here in Europe who are talking about urban agriculture as indispensable social infrastructure," she said.

"Not so much for the production of jobs, but for meeting a wide range of other community needs."

RMIT was one of more than 30 partnering institutions within the Edible Cities Network - a project exploring how urban food agriculture and edible city solutions could make cities around the world more environmentally resilient.

Examples of solutions found included initiatives that ranged from neighbourhood gardens, indoor farming to urban beekeeping and included circular approaches to resource use, food-sharing and community engagement.

Ms Pachova said her research did not have hard data to support statements about an overall growth in urban agriculture, but she did find a "resurgence of interest and engagement" with her projects across cities post-pandemic.

"I can imagine that yes, people were happy to be able to be out in nature and connecting with others after the long restrictions," she said.

"I've heard from various cities... that people also became more aware of the need for accessing locally produced foods and engaged in home gardening during the pandemic."

While Ms Pachova based a lot of her work in Barcelona, she got an insight with different cities in the network - as far away as Guangzhou, China and Montevideo, Uruguay - who presented different issues and opportunities due to vastly different local setups.

She highlighted that there was an overwhelming single message of eagerness to engage in urban agriculture in an integrated manner, but a hands-on approach to growing the movement was critical.

"We had two different types of city groups. One was where we were working with setting up living labs, with more hands-on engagement with the topic of sustainable urban food," she said.

"The other group are much more engaged with planning for a more systematic approach in setting up and enabling urban agriculture.

"I must say that the hands-on approach was essential for this type of engagement and for the enthusiasm around the topic, because oftentimes, when you just focus on planning, people could lose interest on the way.

"It is also important, however, to keep planning in perspective since it could open up possibilities for more hands-on engagement. Thus, the need for an integrated approach in promoting urban agriculture and edible city solutions."

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Local researchers in Victoria working within urban agriculture have said the sector has presented an innovative way to tackle the current cost of living crisis.

Sustain executive director and Churchill fellow Nick Rose recently lead a Melbourne symposium focused on local food insecurity.

He has previously called on the federal government to invest $500 million in a national edible gardening fund which he said would not only stimulate economic growth but reducing reliance on expensive commercial produce.

"We need a coordinated, whole-of-system approach to guarantee our food security and food system resilience for the long term," Dr Rose said.

"This means a food system and security strategy, a food council with representation from First Nations and all key sectors, a comprehensive map of our food supply chain to identify vulnerabilities,"

Dr Rose said community gardens presented a grassroots solution to challenges brought about by local market concentration and rising food prices.

"[Community gardens] empower individuals, strengthen local communities, and contribute to food security," he said.

Ms Pachova said the Edible Cities Network initiative was "not an easy undertaking" but said it was imperative that such initiatives needed to happen.

"In Europe and probably in Australia, we do see there are people who were still affected by the pandemic and living on the margins, who could really benefit from this type of social infrastructure," she said.

"Europe has a complex political system, and it's difficult to force this type of measure that provide a systemic and integrated approach to this type of issue, but if people who are proposing [more funding for initiatives] could manage to do it in Australia, I think it would be a great example for other regions as well."