A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all been affected tremendously. With this, people are beginning to look for innovative solutions that will allow them to bounce back. Urban agriculture has grown rapidly in popularity and is quickly being understood as a resilient solution to COVID19. Urban agriculture helps support strong local economies and brings communities back together again, two things that are vital in COVID19 recovery. Not only will urban agriculture be an effective solution with COVID19, but it also provides many other benefits.
When you think of urban agriculture you probably think about urban space for food production, especially for fruits and vegetables. But, there are other viable types of production that you can get involved in, including microgreens, mushrooms, and edible insects! As well, urban agriculture has more capabilities than food production! It supports local economies, creates jobs, improves food access, and provides ecosystem services.
On May 11th, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is hosting the Urban Food Production Virtual Symposium. The agenda will provide managers, researchers, and urban planners with an understanding of this burgeoning industry and tools to adopt these practices. GRHC brings together early adopters and pioneers so we can understand their successes and losses.
Approved for 3.75 APLD CEUs, 3.75 ASLA CEUs, 4 GRP CEUs and 3 AIA CEUs.
Admission: $50 USD
Image credit courtesy of: Recover Green Roofs
Sponsors
Speakers
Click on photo for full speaker bios
Agenda
| Time | Speaker | Topic | ||||||||||||
| 1:00 | Maria Greco, Program Assistant, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. | Introductory Remarks | 1:10 | Adeline Cohen, Economic research coordinator, Laboratoire sur l'agriculture urbaine (AU/LAB) | Economics and business strategies for urban farms Producing and selling a diversity of urban agricultural products comes with many unique opportunities and challenges in urban settings. This presentation will discuss the economic viability and strategies observed to make urban agricultural activities viable for 4 types of production: rooftop market gardening, microgreens, mushrooms and edible insects. The presentation will share key research conclusions based on the analysis of economic data collected from more than 20 non-profits, co-ops, social enterprises and for-profit organizations currently active in Canada, US, France and Belgium. Four economic papers will be made available to the attendees. |
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| 1:40 | Sarah Rosenberger-Gullotti, Agrihood Project Manager, Farmscape Gardens | Designing and managing Agrihoods for conservation, sustainability and recreation Agrihoods were the hottest trend in community development for more than a decade. In the last five years the presence of Agrihood's has increased almost 5 fold. What is making these community amenities so popular? How can this concept alter the quality of life in suburban and urban landscapes? Will agrihoods reshape how communities are developed permanently? Let's explore this together. |
2:10 | George Gastis, Founder / Owner, Grow + Gather Urban Farm and The Feedery Kitchen + Market | The Role of Food in Human Connection and Community Building Share the motivation of our concept, Grow + Gather and the multiple forms of growing we use and how this supports the local food movement. Learn more about Grow + Gather's unique work with insight from COO and Founder, George Gastis. |
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| 2:40 | Q&A |
| 3:00 |
Break |
| 3:15 |
Jason Brown, Sales Director, Skyland USA, creators of rooflite |
Brooklyn Grange Farm: Built with the rooflite Rooftop Farming Soil System | Brooklyn Grange Farm is a 1.5 acre commercial farm at the Navy Yard in Brooklyn. Installed in 2012, it was built with the rooflite Rooftop Farming Soil System. In this presentation, you will learn about Brooklyn Grange Farm and how rooflite helped make the farm a reality by creating rooflite agricultural, its proprietary rooftop farming soil product. You will also see details on the rooflite Rooftop Farming Soil System and learn about how it can give you a head start on your farm. 3:45 |
Pete Ellis, Senior Project Manager, Recover Green Roofs |
Lindsay Allen, Operations Manager at Higher Ground Farm and the Rooftop farm manager at the Boston Medical Center Integrating Rooftop Farms into the Hospital Ecosystem: Case Study Boston Medical Center |
Join Lindsay and Pete to hear about the successful Boston Medical Center Rooftop Farm from both the installer and farmer perspective. They will share lessons learned over the past 4 years, and hear about how this model is being replicated elsewhere. 4:45 |
Q&A |
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