Could Toronto provide 10% of its fresh vegetable requirements from within its own boundaries? Matching consumption requirements with growing spaces

Abstract

Is it feasible for Toronto to produce and market 10% of its fresh vegetable requirements from within its own boundary, without competing with existing Ontario vegetable producers? We used zoning maps, aerial photography, and numerous exclusionary and inclusionary criteria to identify potential food production sites across the city and, after identifying organic vegetable production yields, to calibrate supply potentials against current vegetable consumption estimates for the Toronto population. It was determined that Toronto required 2,317 hectares (5,725 acres) of food production area to meet current demand, if all production were organic to fulfill other municipal environmental objectives. Of this, 1073.5 ha (2,653 acres) of land could be available from existing Census farms producing vegetables, lands currently zoned for food production, certain areas zoned for industrial uses, and over 200 small plots (0.4-2 ha or 1-4.9 acres) dotted throughout the northeast and northwest of the city. In addition, 1243.5 ha (3,072.8 acres) of rooftop space would also be required. The land and rooftop space available suggests, however, that there would be difficulties meeting requirements for land-extensive crops such as sweet corn, squash, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and asparagus.

A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

“…From these data we computed the following linear relationship between building area per square meter and population per square meter (n = 2856 pixels, R 2 = 0.678): (Carter & Keeler, 2008). MacRae et al (2010) report that 37% of roofs in Toronto, Canada are "suitable for greening of some form." Here we adopt a conservative 19% suitability of estimated rooftop area for UA (i.e., the lowest value retrieved from the peer-reviewed literature).…”

http://www.agdevjournal.com/volume-5-issue-2/510-products-urban-collective-gardens.html

“…Similarly, studies investigating the potential contribution of gardens to urban food supply are based either on production data obtained in different soil and climate contexts than their field of study, or on theoretical yields calculated from yields obtained in conventional agriculture (Darrot & Boudes, 2011;Grewal & Grewal, 2012;MacRae et al, 2010;McClintock et al, 2013). Yet it appears that the cropping practices of urban gardeners and the yields achieved in CGs differ significantly from what is observed in conventional agriculture (Algert et al, 2014).…”

“…During the last decade, driven by the increasing popularity of CGs, several studies assessed the potential of CGs to contribute to the urban food supply (Darrot & Boudes, 2011;Grewal & Grewal, 2012;MacRae, Gallant, Patel, Michalak, Bunch & Schaffner, 2010;McClintock, Cooper, & Khandeshi, 2013). These studies concluded that a substantial part of urban food demand could be produced within the cities' own boundaries by putting vacant land into production.…”

Community Supported Agriculture in the City: The Case of Toronto

“…As evidence of this potential, recently at least three farming operations in Toronto led by young farm entrepreneurs have started CSAs using backyard production. Two research papers were recently published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development on scaling up urban agriculture in Toronto (MacRae, Gallant, Patel, Michalak, Bunch, & Schaffner, 2010;MacRae et al, 2012). The MacRae et al (2010) study examined the potential for vegetable production on land located within the city of Toronto.…”

“…Two research papers were recently published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development on scaling up urban agriculture in Toronto (MacRae, Gallant, Patel, Michalak, Bunch, & Schaffner, 2010;MacRae et al, 2012). The MacRae et al (2010) study examined the potential for vegetable production on land located within the city of Toronto. This study brings together the two arenas of urban agriculture and community supported agriculture, examining urban CSA possibilities in Toronto through more in-depth analysis of the land parcels identified in the MacRae et al (2010) paper.…”