This has been bugging me for a while, so I am going to get it off of my chest. People who talk about 'urban agriculture' maybe don't know what agriculture means. Some crops are agricultural crops, some are horticultural crops. What is the difference? There is a legal as well as common usage difference. Agricultural crops are very low in cost per unit, while horticultural crops are high in unit cost. A cup of wheat or barley (agricultural crops) is a lot cheaper both to produce and to buy than a cup of horticultural crops (peas or potatoes). People who casually use the terminology 'urban agriculture' are not agriculturalists and they are sure not horticulturalists. Where there is a mistake in the use of language, there is usually a mistake in thought. Same for people who use the term 'urban farm'. The next time I see monoculture (as in a field of canola) in the city I will say, 'look, there is urban agriculture'. Until then, I will call a piece of land, in the city with many different kinds of plants growing in it, a garden. The whole concept of agriculture as we now know it is at the root of many of the food problems we now face. For more on this topic, read 'Fertilizer in America' by Richard Wines. Agriculture is in deep trouble world wide. We don't want to follow down that path. It just confuses people to speak of community gardens as 'urban agriculture'. Nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade. Community Gardens is what they are. Both in my book, and in the dictionary too. If you want to look like you don't really understand what you are talking about, carry on talking about Urban Agriculture. Also while you are at it, check out the meaning of urban, suburban, periurban and exurban. Then come up with a term other than Urban Agriculture. My 2 kilowats worth. For what it is worth. Karen Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. Mark Twain -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20100201/1d1af91f/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org
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