Feeding Tkaranto: Sustenance Urban Agriculture

This project aims to provide alternatives to the commercial food industry by building farming centres into urban landscapes, reducing a dependency on food prices, currency evaluation changes, and stagnant investments into unhomed shelter and food distribution programs from the municipal government.

The government of Toronto has also stated that food insecurity Is a prevalent Issue in the city, mainly affecting low-income, racialized, BIPOC, disabled, single-parent, and renter households (City of Toronto, 2023).

Engaging with urban agriculture allows disenfranchised communities to close the cultural and physical spaces between them to generate sustenance in common spaces. Urban agriculture is a form of commoning that has existed throughout human history, from agricultural sects in ancient Mesopotamian cities to modern-day urban gardens. With internationalized advancements in agricultural technology, the ability for urban cities to engage in sustenance agriculture, or agriculture that can sustain local food quotas, is now more than achievable.

Urban cities are the physical manifestation of commoning. Cities like Tkaronto are the result of international communities finding and building a commonplace, contributing their knowledge, integrity, and labour to constructing the surroundings that colonizers enjoy without having to struggle for it. When a wealthy urban environment no longer provides basic necessities for its labouring class and instead facilitates food insecurity, wealth gaps, and an increasingly aggressive attitude toward members of its community that are unhomed, it becomes a failed commons (Getachew, 2019). "Involuntary subjection, nonreciprocity, and inequality characterize this relationship between the colonized and colonizer," but this socioeconomic asymmetry does not exist naturally. This inequality is constructed.

Communities that have been over-policied, under-represented, and institutionally marginalized build common spaces for one another against oppressive colonial forces. Taking inspiration from Indigenous and Black grassroots activists, Feeding Tkaronto aims to support marginalized communities by reclaiming common spaces for its very namesake –– to feed Tkaronto.

Among several of Tkaronto's beautiful green spaces, one stands out in particular. Allan Gardens, a 16,000-square-foot stretch of land that houses a botanical conservatory, also resides in the city's cultural and social centre. Despite this land not being sufficient for the construction and maintenance of a traditional farm, this space is more than capable of supporting new agricultural technologies such as vertical farming and hydroponic fertilization systems.

Parks like Allan Gardens are purposefully chosen for this project as a way to give back power to the communities that have suffered from their construction and monetization. Harvey writes that while capital-oriented governments seek to destroy bottom-up urban commons, they easily invest in common spaces that they can profit from (Harvey, 2012). Commons that were once meant to uplift and support local communities become natural parks and conservation centres that are repurposed to increase the value of surrounding real estate, directly contributing to the gentrification of low-income neighbourhoods and the ever-expanding housing crisis (Harvey, 2012).

Dickson Despommier is a scholar of medical ecology, who has been working since 1999 to develop and enhance his designs for vertical farms. The idea behind vertical farms is to conserve as much time, energy and space as possible while producing sustainable yields.

"It has now become a solution to most of the issues deriving from traditional outdoor farming: by occupying less land, it can contribute to the restoration of forests and by operating within a circular economy framework, it uses fewer resources and reuses organic waste." (Despommier, 2019)

Here's a video to explain this modern practice.

All mentioned organizations are intersectional and secular in nature

Existing programs utilize traditional or semi-traditional agricultural methods to encourage inner-city commoning while fighting against urban food insecurity. These programs incorporate historically used commoning food-growing and distribution methods, which find communities springing up from all around the globe.

 TORONTO URBAN GROWERS 

 BLACK CREEK COMMUNITY FARM 

 DAILY BREAD 

Daily Bread is an organization that provides information about the network of Toronto food programs and events.

Black Creek Community Farm. (2023). About Us. Black Creek Community Farm. https://www.blackcreekfarm.ca/about-us/

City of Toronto. (2022, November 14). Food Insecurity in Toronto. City of Toronto. https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/long-term-vision-plans-and-strategies/poverty-reduction-strategy/food-security-in-toronto-poverty-reduction-strategy/

Daily Bread. (2018, February 25). Vision, Mission, and 2024 Strategic Goals - Daily Bread Food Bank. Daily Bread Mission and Vision. https://www.dailybread.ca/about/mission-and-vision/

Despommier, D. (2013). Farming up the city: the rise of urban vertical farms. Trends in Biotechnology, 31(7), 388–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.03.008

Despommier, D. (2019). Vertical farms, building a viable indoor farming model for cities. Field Actions Science Reports:, 20, 68–73. https://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/5737

Emergen Research. (2022, August 26). Vertical Farming Market Top Companies | Vertical Farming Industry Trends by 2028. Www.emergenresearch.com. https://www.emergenresearch.com/blog/worlds-top-8-companies-leading-in-vertical-farming

Getachew, A. (2019). Chapter 1: A Political Theory of Decolonization. In Worldmaking after Empire (pp. 14–36). Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691184340-003

Harvey, D. (2012). Rebel Cities: from the right to the city to the urban revolution. Verso.

McCauley, D. (2021, January 25). Urban agriculture combats food insecurity, builds community. Eos. https://eos.org/articles/urban-agriculture-combats-food-insecurity-builds-community

Sadana, R., & Fayez-Bahgat, M. (2022). 2022 Budget Notes Shelter, Support and Housing Administration. City of Toronto. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-199439.pdf

Shahbandeh, M. (2023, March 13). Forecast for vertical farming market global 2026. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/487666/projection-vertical-farming-market-worldwide/#:~:text=The%20global%20vertical%20farming%20market

Toronto Urban Growers. (2016). About us - Toronto Urban Growers. Torontourbangrowers.org. http://torontourbangrowers.org/a-propos

All photographs and works of art used are free use and not subject to copyright.