A desert harvest, courtesy of desalinization

A couple of quick, but captivating stories for this Wednesday:

-The most tantalizing of the bunch comes from deserts of Australia (and Qatar), where a group is desalinating sea water with solar energy and growing fruits and vegetables for the continent.

-Citizens of Detroit are grappling with selling 1,500 parcels of city held land - almost 140 acres -  for urban agriculture...they think, as there’s no development plan yet!

-Dakar, Senegal supplies 45% of its city’s food supply via urban agriculture, generating over 450 million dollars last year alone! Land and water issues threaten to slow progress, let’s check in on this next year to see what is new.

-Kickstarter has been a boon to many smaller businesses, here’s an aquaponics one who has made it big! They have an attractive system, good luck to them!

The Great Green Wall begins to grow

Cleaning out the old bookmarks folder so I wanted to do a quick update post on Africa’s great green wall. Green infrastructure so big, it becomes green geoengineering. 

Two weeks ago Senegal put shovels in the ground, kilometer 1 of a 7,775 km long journey east. The green belt will be 15 km wide, hopefully slowing the powerful Sahara. No idea how long this will take to complete, but China is trying something about two thirds as long to fight back the Gobi desert and that should be done by 2050.  Quite stunningly the Chinese government estimates it could take 300 years to reclaim the lost land!

"Urban agriculture is the new golf"

The LA Times let's us know that more housing developments are being built around urban farming...therefore making urban ag "the new golf".

-Meanwhile in Senegal, officials agree that city-planners must make urban horticulture an integral part of their development and planning and Belize has taken up the cause as well.

-Vertical gardens have hit the big time when they get a TIME profile. It's great to see the author did his homework and can share the costs with the readers. There's something TIME's straightforward writing which is refreshing.

-Lastly I'll cut and paste a press release, because I can't for the life of me find a link, with some exciting news for urban farmers in Canada:

Wednesday December 8th, 2010
NFU OPENS MEMBERSHIP TO URBAN FARMERS
Saskatoon, Sask - National Farmers Union (NFU) membership is now open to urban farmers, according to a resolution passed at the NFU's 41st Annual Convention, held from December 2-4 in Saskatoon. The NFU constitution, states that, membership is open to any person that is engaged in farming in Canada.
Newly elected, NFU Youth Vice-President, Paul Slomp stated that "young and new farmers are supporting themselves and feeding their communities by producing fruits, vegetables, grains and some cases livestock on lands within city boundaries." Paul, a livestock farmer from Eastern Ontario, went on to say, "These farmers tend to be well-educated and innovative in their efforts to reclaim unused acreage. The NFU is very inclusive and our members have diverse operations. It makes sense to include urban farmers in the organization. Membership in the NFU will give these farmers a forum to bring policy to all levels of government, and allow them to contribute both their expertise and their concerns to the betterment of all farm families."
"These plots may be small but these skilled farmers use them quite extensively, returning from $5000 to $10,000/acre," said NFU Womens President, Joan Brady. Brady, who operates an intensive market garden on 3.5 acres in Huron County went on to say, "communities are increasingly concerned about planning for their food needs for the future. Food production in the cities will act as a buffer to the insecurity of a global food system, well beyond the control of the average Canadian."
The NFU is a non-partisan, nation-wide democratic organization made up of thousands of farm families from across Canada who produce a wide variety of commodities, including grains, livestock, fruits and vegetables. The NFU was founded in 1969 and chartered in 1970 under a Special Act of Parliament. The mandate is to work for policies designed to:
1. raise net farm incomes from the marketplace;
2. promote a food system that is built on a foundation of financially-viable family farms which produce high-quality, healthy, safe food;
3. encourage environmentally-sensitive practices that will protect our precious soil, water and other natural resources; and
4. promote social and economic justice for food producers and all citizens.
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For more information, questions about NFU policies, or questions about membership, please contact:
Joan Brady, NFU Womens President (519) 237-3139
Paul Slomp, NFU Youth Vice President (613) 230-0684
Kevin Wipf, NFU Executive Director (306) 652-9465