Urban Agriculture Unveiled: Insights from Lead Analyst Jake Hawes and the Study's Impact
Disclaimer: We aim to open the lines of communication between people of differing opinions. We’re not attempting to create divisiveness by linking to news articles and Instagram accounts, or by conducting this interview. We believe progress is made through conversation, understanding and radical candor. We hope you’ll join us in bringing different voices to the table with an open mind.
If you’re anything like us, you follow a plethora of garden, preservation and other homestead type accounts on Instagram. If you’re also like us, you’ve noticed that for whatever reason, misinformation runs rampant in that space.
You may have recently seen these headlines floating around, with accounts on Instagram making claims about the findings of the study:
Sources: Forbes, Business Insider, The Telegraph
Sources: @nickjfreitas, @kari.anne.duwe, @lovedbykait
These are just a sampling of both the headlines and socials media posts we saw. It was shocking! How could this be true? Was it true? Were these headlines and posts representative of the study in question?
We were curious enough to read the full study and then get in touch with Jake Hawes, the lead analyst. He agreed to chat with us about what drove his desire to study this topic, how he hopes the results will be used, and how the public reaction has impacted him.
Growing Interest, Lack of Research
Hawes explained that his interest in this topic was driven by personal interest, as well as sparse research on the holistic topic of urban agriculture. Past research, including that conducted by some of his peers, centered around the food production of urban agriculture. Hawes theorized that a broader lens would improve food production, provide opportunities for more sustainable urban ag infrastructure, and ultimately have a positive impact on the climate.
“[Urban agriculture is] going continue growing according to all analysis that I've seen, and a lot of people are talking about it as a food production strategy,” said Hawes. “We need to think about this holistically. We need to think about the social impacts. We need to think about how you could re-consider material sources…when you do that, then it can become a really useful climate mitigation strategy,” Hawes said.
A Loud, Mixed Response from the Public
When it comes to the public response of his study, Hawes was transparent about the highs and lows.
“I’m glad that people are talking about it,” said Hawes. “It’s been a mixed response though…I think that to some degree, people are projecting their own value systems onto these headlines.”
He had a sense of optimism about the negative messages and emails he’s received, and a sense of humor about some of the more extreme interpretations of the study.
“If it's helpful, I'll just say this outright. First, we were not funded by the WEF. Second, this work was funded by government agencies, but it was independent research that was not directed in any particular direction. Third, we do not all hate urban agriculture. In fact, most of us grow food and our intention is not to get home gardening banned.”
And that humorous, yet honest dig at conspiracy theorist response to his study, really gets to the heart of Hawes’ intent. At the end of the day, this study was conducted by a group of academics who are also interested in growing their own food and creating sustainable solutions. It’s an honest look at the work that’s been done to make urban agriculture sustainable, where that work falls short, and what can be done to continue in a way that makes sense for communities and the planet.
“There's a lot of work that remains to be done.” said Hawes. “I'm hopeful that people will be able to to identify research questions that are really important for the future of sustainable regional food systems or urban food systems.”
For the interested reader, Hawes and team identified specific areas that require more data and research for this work to continue. Again, we encourage anyone interested to read the study in its entirety.
Making Change at a Large Scale
Beyond the continued need for research in this space, Hawes emphasized the biggest need — attention from policymakers.
“I think urban policymakers are the clear audience [of the study],” said Hawes. “There are questions about urban waste recycling that urban policymakers can make a difference in… If we're promoting programs that are aimed at urban agriculture, but we're only talking about it as a food production strategy, we are actually not only potentially undermining some of the really important community benefits of it, we're actually also potentially undermining the climate footprint, because we found that social production can be a really important way of offsetting food carbon footprint.”
“We want people to continue gardening. It’s an important part of people’s lives. This is certainly not discouraging that.”
Hawes has hopes of impacting large-scale funding, particularly within the USDA. He emphasized that while there are small things home gardeners can do, those interested in impacting change at a large scale are best off focusing their energy on influencing policymakers to redirect funding toward programs that benefit everyday people pursuing urban agriculture. Specifically, policies to improve access to land and extend the life of gardens would go furthest in impacting carbon footprint. You can read the full policy brief here.
“We want people to continue gardening. It's an important part of people's lives. This is certainly not discouraging that,” he said, explaining that there are ways to improve small-scale gardens. “I have to move in a few months. I'm probably going to build a new garden. I will think about ways to identify urban waste that I might be able to use to build that raised bed instead of going out and buying fence posts from Lowe's.
There are some little things the gardeners can do, but at the end of the day, my big focus for the implications are definitely on policymakers and on researchers to try to continue to identify best practices.”
In short? Hawes and the other authors of the study intended for this piece to be used as another tool to help people and communities improve upon existing urban agriculture infrastructure.
Thank you to Jake Hawes for taking the time to talk with The Suburban Homestead. Have a differing opinion, or opposing research? We’d love to talk to you, too. Get in touch here.