Modelling the Benefits and Impacts of Urban Agriculture: Employment, Economy of Scale and Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Urban Farm DB summary

A study modeling the social, economic, and environmental potential of urban agriculture (UA), based on information from 40 distinct locations in each of two regions: Adelaide, South Australia and the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Modelling estimated equivalent employment, scale appropriateness, and earnings relative to labor use from commercial urban farming and gardening-style UA, together with carbon dioxide emissions for two vegetable types. The study examined the influence of distance and production scale under manual-to-modest mechanization for urban vegetable production, finding that the interplay between labor use and mechanization can favor scale-appropriate UA practices with better labor productivity and economic and social advantage. Distribution — assumed to be by car for UA — contributed the largest share of emissions, while the production component, even with mechanization, contributed a relatively small portion per unit of production. The study recommends that governments and planners facilitate scale-appropriate mechanization through better planning and policy instruments to support UA's sustainability.