Growing up in the country, it was always my mindset that farmers farmed in rural areas and people whom lived in the city traveled to grocery stores and to the farms to obtain their fruits and vegetables. Here in Canada I have noticed a trend of more and more "city gardens" being developed. I seemed to be in a mindset where I separated the place where my food was grown from the place that I lived. The World Bank thinks that towns and cities could produce half of the food needed to sustain the population by the year 2020. They say that as it stands now, urban agriculture produces three to fifteen times as much per hectare as common rural methods. This is partly due to the amount of urban waste produced, which happens to be seventy percent more organic than rural waste. Using this waste reduces pollution and enriches the soil, thus conserving natural resources. Since urban dwellings are developed closely together, urban farming requires cooperation amongst neighbors. This in turn creates communities and may even connect more people with their sense of nature. Conversely, urbanization is demanding. Currently at 1 billion people, the urban population is expected to grow to 4 billion by 2025. Also, many cities are not located on coastal waters, meaning that their food will have to be imported, if not grown locally. But for those cities that are located near coasts, erosion may become a problem. And as more people move into the cities, their demand for more wheat and meat products will increase. It isn't just about grain. Sixty percent of the world's population depends on fish and seafood for forty percent of its annual protein. Over-fishing has severely depleted stocks of species to the point that may be beyond recovery. Maintaining this natural resource is necessary not only to sustain growth, but also for contributions to biotechnology. Evolutionary biologist Niles Eldridge believes that the problem doesn't in...
