Urban agriculture can help, but not solve, city food security problems
“This work demonstrates the need to include a full list of nutrients when evaluating the feasibility of localizing food systems,” Costello said. “Key nutrient fortification or supplementation may significantly reduce the land area required to meet the nutritional needs of a population.”
By Jeff Mulhollem
Penn State
March 24, 2021
Excerpt:
The team estimated the total nutrient requirements of Chicago’s population using the daily food nutrient requirements recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Twenty-eight nutrients were considered. Foods included in the study were selected based on their current prevalence in the American agricultural system and for their nutritional qualities.
The scientists estimated the amount of land required for each animal-based commodity using a formula based on USDA recommendations and prior research done by Costello. The researchers created linkages between crops and livestock in a model and used national inventory data to estimate both cropland and pastureland utilized for each kilogram — about 2 pounds — of animal food commodity.
The study used satellite data to define land-type availability and incorporated USDA data on yield for conventionally grown crops over a 10-year period. Soil-based urban agricultural yield data for the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons came from the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, located in Missouri.
The findings, recently published in Environmental Science and Technology, suggested that it is not possible — using the predominant commodities and common urban agricultural production of today — to meet the nutritional needs of Chicago within a radius under 400 miles, given the cropland and pastureland available, without fortifying foods with vitamin D and supplementing foods with vitamin B12.
