Food in the City: Community-Driven Agriculture across the United States

1. Abstract Urban Agriculture is an accepted practice in many cities and countries, and has attracted a broad cross-section of people across the United States to start growing food in their communities. In some cases, the motivation behind Urban Agriculture is clear, but throughout the history of Urban Agriculture in the United States there have been many reasons why urbanites have started growing food. Such reasons include an ideological battle against conventional agriculture, the need for food itself, the desire to recreate, and the urge to educate others. The motivation behind the practice varies from location to location with national trends shifting throughout history as communities struggled to understand what Urban Agriculture meant to them. Ultimately, however , the motivations of the Americans on the ground practicing Urban Agriculture are largely undocumented. Through a series of interviews with practitioners of Urban Agriculture across the United States, I have gathered data suggesting that the primary reasons why Americans are growing food in cities today are to have a career in a profession they enjoy and to educate others about the benefits they see in Urban Agriculture. First I would like to thank my primary advisor, John Lanterman, for his ceaseless support of my work not only on this thesis, but also in all of my studies throughout my time in the Environmental Design Program. He has always pushed me to advance my work to the next level and has inspired me with his enthusiasm for everything from passing on knowledge to others to a bowl of freshly harvested greens. I could not have completed this work without him. Next I would like to offer thanks to Georgia Lindsay for showing me the value of academic research and for encouraging my peers and me at every step in the honors thesis process. Without Georgia, not only would I never have had the opportunity to conduct this research, but also I would have quickly become lost in the research process. Jill Harrison, my third committee member, and Michael Szuberla also deserve much thanks for making this research possible. Their outside opinions and insights into my subject helped me immensely to hone and clarify my research. Thanks also to Tori Derr for help selecting sites for my interviews. Finally I would like to thank Ximena Keogh for interpretation work and Anschel Kaufman for translation help.