The arrival of summertime is always exciting with its prospects for new opportunities and adventures. I have begun work down in Moab, UT inventorying light emissions as part of a team of engineers and ecological planners working to protect southern Utah’s night sky. Sadly, I’m afraid I have to announce this means I will be transitioning out of the IRES project. However, I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to engage in this unique and compelling project with Dr. Steve Burian, Olivia, Mickey, Sarai, and Dana, along with the research team from the University of Toledo and our collaborators in Barcelona, Spain. It’s been a real pleasure and I’ll miss you folks!
My focus has involved developing a vision report for urban agriculture along the Wasatch Front. While that vision is still in its infancy, I’ve been inspired by the many different urban farmers, developers, local officials, non-profit staff members, and local gardeners who persevere in their efforts to sustainably produce fresh food in the limited confines of our desert valleys. In the many interviews I’ve had with these local agricultural stakeholders, I’ve heard a similar vision emerging: they all foresee a day where heading to your community garden or local community supported agriculture (CSA) farm is not unusual. It’s the norm. The idea is that everyone is so engaged with gardening or interacting with farmers through CSAs and farmer’s markets that when you’re heading to those places, it’s no different than saying you’re going to the grocery store.
There are some obvious and some subtle obstacles that stand in the way of the realization of this vision. Some of our interviewees have brought up the need for a local food hub that offers aggregation, processing (including cold storage), and/or distribution services. Others have pointed out that there needs to be better, more affordable supply options for small- and medium-scale farmers besides purchasing “unseen” farming supplies online. Some have pointed out that local authorities need to better protect and preserve agricultural lands against urbanization and others have pointed out the need for greater outreach to and involvement of local minority groups. Most obviously, there needs to be greater concern about water usage and developing strategies for lowering local agriculture’s water consumption.
These findings will hopefully continue to be validated by the ongoing research efforts of a new, incoming cohort of students this next academic year. As such, I intend to assist this new group of students with their transition into the project, especially where the reification of our vision report is concerned.
On a more personal level, this project has had a positive impact on my own views and way of thinking about local agriculture. In researching the vision report, I’ve been motivated to rent a small 4’ X 20’ garden plot at a community garden near my downtown apartment. Trends and issues in local agriculture have also become a regular subject in my conversations with others. My poor family and friends get to listen to me go on tirelessly about food hubs, patterns in local water usage, how to help small- and medium-scale urban farmers, and my endless brainstorming for possible solutions to food deserts in SLC. In my own small way, I see this as helping to raise awareness of this very important topic and as a manner of deepening my own sense of respect for our local agricultural and gardening industries.
I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to interact and work with this most stellar of urban agriculture teams and am excited by what we’ve found and by what we have yet to discover. Thanks everyone and best of luck!! I'll miss you all!
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