Curtailing Agriculture Projects’ Practices That Can Harm Urban Food Security and Public Health

Many old and “modern” cities have been built on terrain that was previously vegetated and part of biologically diverse ecosystems. This was often on productive farmland that was not protected from encroachment as municipalities expanded and opened pristine areas to development. The encroachment continues as rural citizens and their families are attracted to urban centers for the way of life they seemed to offer. This starts with employment possibilities, education for workers children, and family health services as manufacturing/industrial operations and large and small businesses that serviced them spurs economic development. Agricultural projects are located mainly away from population centers, be they major metropolises or smaller cities. They provide food security for urban citizens through “brought into markets” in-ground crops, bush crops, and tree crops they cultivate, and through animal husbandry (e.g., beef and dairy cattle, poultry, hogs, sheep). The last chapter described how manufacturing/industrial endeavors can present potential harm to the health of urban and rural citizens and to natural resource rich ecosystems that help sustain them, and how to find solutions to the problems. This chapter will discuss the problems that food production methods present, the threats they pose to urban populations that are generally distant from them, and possible solutions to such problems.