Want to raise urban appreciation for ag? Start with urbanites raising chickens.
Chickens have always amused me. As such, I was drawn to a recent feature in our weekly farm paper. The topic: urbanites “flocking” to poultry husbandry as a hobby. (Check out this New York Times article for one man’s approach to urban farming: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/dining/19farm.html).
Buried in the piece was reference to city-dwelling chicken farmers, and others, who are urging the USDA to create an “office of urban agriculture.” It’s a great idea! Farm organizations have invested millions of dollars in attempts to educate and enlighten their city cousins about agriculture. (In fact, The Meyocks Group has been involved in several of these successful efforts.)
Now these organizations should run, not walk – (even cross a road if they have to!) – to lobby on behalf of the Urban-Ag concept. They should urge their members to get involved in some fashion in each major city where there’s interest enough to form a local unit.
Nowhere else will farm groups find such a concentration of city folk who already are interested in farming. Commercial farmers can share their practical knowledge, certainly; but they also can explain how and why they operate at a much larger scale to people who are willing and eager to absorb that information.
It’s a great way to narrow the rural-urban gap with a focused message narrowly targeted to a receptive audience.
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