Toronto Urban Growers releases ‘Indicators for Urban Agriculture in Toronto: A Scoping Analysis’
Posted: March 21, 2017
Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members
Toronto Urban Growers (TUG) have released a new report identifying the most relevant and measurable indicators of the health, social, economic, and ecological benefits of urban agriculture (UA) in Toronto.
This work matters because Toronto Public Health, who commissioned TUG to produce the report, found:
- There is a considerable gap in data on the impact of urban agriculture in Toronto; and
- Local data is important for building cases of support for UA.
A variety of stakeholders, including City staff and practitioners of urban agriculture, can use the indicators to:
- Assess citywide impacts of UA;
- Demonstrate benefits of programs; and
- Fundamentally, make the case for making land and resources available and enabling policies for urban agriculture.
Key audiences, namely government bodies, for-profit corporations, funders, landholders and the general public, as well as methods to engage them, were also identified. Examples of indicators (which each have their own measures):
- Diversity of urban agriculture products;
- Participation rate;
- Pathways to employment;
- Social cohesion; and
- Planting practices leading to improved soil, water, air quality.
Hopefully these give a sense of how Toronto can benefit socially, economically and environmentally from UA.
As per their website, TUG is a member based network of urban farmers, gardeners, businesses, organizations, institutions and networks that committed to scaling up urban agriculture in Toronto. They aim to increase availability of healthy, organic and sustainable food grown, processed and soil in the city. In terms of their values, they believe growing food in cities:
- Promotes environmental stewardship;
- Meets physical and social needs;
- Supports social justice and inclusion; and
- Creates Prosperity.