Urban Agriculture

What is urban agriculture? As a national movement, urban agriculture is growing rapidly across the US. According to the USDA, around 15 percent of the world's food is now grown in urban areas. City and suburban agriculture takes the form of backyard, roof-top and balcony gardening, community gardening in vacant lots and parks, roadside urban fringe agriculture and livestock grazing in open space."  Amid escalating concerns about the environment, pesticides, and food safety, urbanites are turning to community gardens to supply their fruits and vegetables. Cities are also creating gardens to address "urban food deserts," or areas where access to fresh fruits and vegetables is limited.

Animal husbandry, of which urban hen-keeping is the most popular version, forms a significant part of the urban agriculture movement. Sarasota, Austin, Charlotte, San Francisco, Little Rock, Mobile, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boise, and Albuquerque all allow a limited number of hens on private property.   Organizations such as Urban Chickens help dispel myths pertaining to urban chicken-keeping.

Many cities are also now allowing limited numbers of miniature goats for fresh milk.  Most cities limit it to 2-3 goats.  The Goat Justice League out of Seattle is a great resource to help dispel myths about urban goat keeping too.

Many residents of Springfield have been following this trend and would like to see Springfield on the forefront of this trend in Jacksonville.  Legislation can be written to allow urban ag in the Springfield area so that our community can lead the way and attract more development here as a result.

We would like your input on how you, the residents of Springfield, would like to see the community benefit from urban ag legislation.  Please complete the short survey to help us out. 

There are many components of urban agriculture.  This survey is intended to gather input on several of them.  Proposed zoning changes will not necessarilyencompass all of them.  Please give your feedback on each one

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Hen Keeping

Lauren Trad, Hens in Jax
Benefits of urban  hens:
·Health  – better source of protein than Concentrated Animal  Feed Operations (CAFO’s) that send eggs to our grocery stores, often from poorly  run facilities and
months old by the time they are consumed.
·Economic  - Cheaper source of protein and promotes the local  food movement that keeps more dollars and jobs in our local  economy.
·Safer  – CAFO’s are more prone to E coli and salmonella and  often use antibiotics and hormones- McDonald’s just dropped a multi-state egg supplier after “serious violations” were found.
 ·Education and Knowledge – Kids learn firsthand knowledge of  where their food comes from and since they are home raised, we know that they  are antibiotic and hormone free.
·Environmentally sensitive – eggs are brought in from the  backyard instead of hundreds or thousands of miles away.
·Natural pest control – chickens eat worms, roaches, slugs,  fire ants and termites among other pests.
·Domesticated pet – in current Jacksonville coding, the  following are considered domesticated animals – dog,  bird, cat, rodent, such as a gerbil, guinea pig, hamster, domesticated mouse,  and domesticated rat, domesticated or European ferret, rabbit, fish, nonvenemous reptile and amphibian.  Even pot-bellied pigs.  Poultry is  not.

Some misconceptions about urban hen-keeping:
·Noise - Roosters will not be permitted and are not needed  to produce eggs.  Laying hens make some soft noise when laying an egg, but are basically silent at all other times.  From sundown to sunup, because chickens can’t  see in the dark, they lay quietly in their coop.
·Odors – Much like a cat litter box, the laying hen’s coop  does need cleaning from time to time.Unlike cat’s, a hens waste is a great source of fertilizer for lawns and  garden beds. The slaughtering of  chickens is expressly prohibited unless at a USDA approved facility.
·Disease  – Chickens carry far fewer diseases than cats or  dogs.  As to “bird flu”, there has never  been human infection in the US and the spread in Asia, Africa and Europe is  largely due to the unsanitary and tight quarters seen more often in CAFOs.
·Attraction of predators – Raccoons are the most common  predators to chickens and they exist in Jacksonville currently, usually feeding  off the plates of outdoor cats and dogs, as well as the trash created and left  out by humans.  Laying hens, when secured  in proper coop at night, are safe from these nocturnal creatures.

Key elements  from Proposed Draft Hen Legislation
·As an accessory use to a permitted single family dwelling.
·A maximum of 6 hens – no roosters.
·Enclosing structure required, screened from street view, and consistent with UF’s
  Institute of Food and Agricultural Services Publication.
·Chickens  are not raised for consumption.  Sale of eggs is already regulated and enforced by the State Department of Agriculture.

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Urban Goats

Benefits of Urban Goats
Health - Raw milk has nothing added, no hormones or antibiotics.  Lactos intolerance is not an issue.  No GMO's.  Higher in many vitamins and nutrients.  Can help reduce allergies.
Safety - Dairy operations are filthy and rely on pasteurization to kill microbes that might kill you.  Did you know that conventional milk contains high levels of blood, pus, and feces? One third of pasteurized milk is contaminated with dangerous enzymes.  If you are getting milk from your goat in your back yard then you know exactly where it came from, how it was handled, and what the animal ate that produced it.
Education and Knowledge – Kids have firsthand knowledge of  where their food comes from.  Since they are home raised, we know that the milk produced is antibiotic and hormone free.
Environmentally sensitive – milk from your own goat in the backyard instead of
hundreds or thousands of miles away saves fuel costs and harmful effects of large scale industrial dairy farming
Natural weed control – contrary to popular belief, goats are browsers, not grazers.  They will happily munch on any cut shrubbery or weeds or spent garden goods that you want to give them.  No more waiting for COJ to pick up those shrubs you trimmed - your goat will eat it and turn it in to milk. 
Domesticated Pet - goats make wonderful pets.  They are extremely smart and funny and playful.  They are herd animals and will bond to their people very easily.

Some Misconceptions About Urban Goat Keeping
Noise -  Goats are prey animals and make no noise at night.  During the day, most goats make less noise than your neighbors barking dog.  Goats are herd animals so having only one isn't an option or you will get a loud and lonely goat.  For small scale purposes, 2-3 goats is adequate for them to entertain themselves.
Odor - Goat poop is small like rabbit droppings. Much like a cat litter box, the goat shed does need cleaning from time to time and unlike cat’s, a goats's waste is a great source of fertilizer for lawns and  garden beds, much like hen waste.  Again, we aren't talking about a herd of goats - SCALE IS EVERYTHING
Lots of Land is Necessary - this is truly a misconception, especially when we are talking about 2-3 goats.  In most countries where goat keeping is more normal, a small pen and some adequate fencing with a shed for cover from the weather is all that is necessary - very similar to what a dog needs.  Goats can eat mostly hay and shrubbery clippings that you feed them along with small amounts of oats and grains when they are milking.
They will attract rodents - Not True! Rodents are all around us - we live in a city and rodents go where there is food.  There are trash bins full of food put out every week at our curbs - this is what rodents are attracted to.  People with hens and goats actually have less food for rodents to eat out of their trash.  This is because they feed their organic scraps to their hens or goats, so there is less to attract rodents with.  Also, a lot of people leave food out for stray cats and dogs - this attracts rodents also and has nothing to do with hens and goats who will consume every morsel put out to them.
Everyone is going to get one and they will be everywhere! - This is most certainly not true.  Goats are ruminants and require special attention.  Also, to keep the goat milking the doe must be bred, so the owner has to be dedicated to finding a stud and selling the babies.  This is more trouble than most are willing to do.  But for those who are willing to put in the time and effort, misconceptions shouldn't be allowed to hold them back

Key Elements to Proposed Draft Goat Legislation
2-3 goats per household with a restrictions (numbers, lot size, ets)
No uncastrated males permitted
Enclosing structure required, not visble from street view
Goats are not raised for meat consumption or milk sale.

Urban goat shed

Great pets for kids and great way to teach them  where their food comes from

A small shed (like a dog house) and a fenced run (like a dog run) is all that is really needed to house 2-3 goats

Mozzarella cheese - one of the many delicious products you can make with goat's milk

LaMancha dairy goats, easily identifiable by their small ears, are ideal for an urban setting.  They are known to be extremely quiet and docile

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Urban Farms

What is an urban farm?  Typically larger than community gardens and includes larger scale production of food-producing or ornamental plants, bees, fish, etc. for commercial purposes using a variety of horizontal and vertical growing techniques including in-soil, container, hydroponic, and aquaponic growing systems.  End products are typically sold on- or off-site at a stand or market.  If large enough, urban farms may adopt the community supported agriculture (CSA) distribution model, through which consumers of the farm's produce over the growing season also share in its risks.   Many urban farms also employ local people.

Examples:
Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia
Growing Power in Milwaukee and Chicago
Red Planet Vegetables in Providence RI
Springdale Farm in Austin TX

Both of these pictures are from Growing Power in Milwaukee, the leading Urban Farm in the country