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City Farmer's Urban Agriculture Survey Results


We posted a short survey on our web site in late March 2000, to help us learn something about the people who visit "Urban Agriculture Notes". A simple link at the top of our Home Page invited readers to take part, and after one month, 100 completed surveys were collected. Here is what we learned.

Summary

People from 16 countries submitted surveys - Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Kuwait, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Spain and the USA. The vast majority were from the USA (56%) and Canada (26%).

By far the most interesting information sent to us can be found in the answers to questions 3 and 17: "What is your interest in Urban Agriculture?" and "Please tell us more about your experience producing food in the city."

A complete list of responses to both questions is posted below.
Responses to: "What is your interest in Urban Agriculture?"
Respondents tell us more about their experience producing food in the city.

92 of the 100 people who responded to the survey consider themselves urban.

Of the 92 urban people, 81 grow food and are therefore city farmers.

Most of the city farmers who responded grow vegetables(77) and herbs(72). Half of them grow fruit(45) and legumes(36). A few produce eggs, grain, edible flowers, nuts, honey, meat, dairy, jams, preserves, Chinese herbal medicines and wine.

62 of the city farmers produce their food at home, 21 in a community garden. Food was produced on window sills(14), and balconies(10). Food was also grown in containers, sunrooms, rooftops, school gardens, parking lots, someone else's yard, vacant city lots and on farm land.

Most of the city farmers have small(35) [0-100 sq ft] or medium(37) [100-1000 sq ft]growing areas. A few people reported large(10) [1000-10,000sq.ft.] and very large(3) [more than 10,000sq.ft.] gardens.

Most people said they enjoyed the activity of growing food(78), the flavour of the food(71) and the fact that growing it relieves stress(69). Of slightly lesser importance was that home-grown food was better for the environment(60), was safer to eat than store bought food(53), and saved them money(49).

8 people said they sold some food at local markets, in stores, through home deliveries and streetside stands.

46 people have produced food for 0-5 years.
16 from 5-10 years.
11 from 10-15 years.
5 from 15-20 years.

38 males and 40 females were recorded ranging in age from 14 to 75 (average age was 38).

Not enough space(39) and not enough time(32) were the reasons most often given by people for not growing more food.

The cities represented included: Arcata, Baltimore, Allen, Ann Arbor, Arlington Heights, Baltimore, Bellingham, Bilbao, Burnaby, Calgary, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Copenhagen, Delta, Detroit, East Lansing, Edmonton, Erie, Eugene, Fort Wayne, Hoboken, Hong Kong, Iowa City, Kalamazoo, Kamloops, Kuwait City, Little Rock, Louisville, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, Marilao, Marysville, Memphis, Monrovia, Montreal, Nelson, New Westminster, Newcastle, Oklahoma City, Orillia, Parksville, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Providence, Quezon City, Richmond Hill, Richmond, Riverside, Roxbury, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, St. Albert, St. Louis, Steynsburg, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver, Venice, Ventura, Victoria, Virginia Beach, Winnipeg, Worcester , Yellowknife.

City Farmer will continue to collect and review submitted surveys beyond the first 100.




Responses to: "What is your interest in Urban Agriculture?"



Respondents tell us more about their experience producing food in the city.






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Revised Dec 14, 2010

Published by City Farmer
Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture

cityfarmer@gmail.com