With food insecurity why doesn't the government push urban gardening

[Fern]

You are genuinely mental.

Mass farming techniques means that supermarkets can sell vegetables for a few pence; why do you think that it would be economical for people to grow their own?

Fresh vegetables are expensive. Some cost as much as meat on a per lb basis.

Fresh herbs are also expensive but easy to grow. They're basically weeds.

Seeds are pretty cheap and water is almost free.

----------------------

I could see rooftop gardens. I wish they grow crops up on the roof. Food is fine, but so are other things because such plants absorb CO2.

Fern

 

[fskimospy]

Just write out a check, no sense requiring something, too much effort.

So you are willing to write a bigger check just so you know they are making a garden?

 

[zephyrprime]

Fresh vegetables are expensive. Some cost as much as meat on a per lb basis.

Fresh herbs are also expensive but easy to grow. They're basically weeds.

Seeds are pretty cheap and water is almost free.

----------------------

I could see rooftop gardens. I wish they grow crops up on the roof. Food is fine, but so are other things because such plants absorb CO2.

Fern

It's true. The markup on vegatables is ridiculously high. I believe it cost about 20 calories of feed to produce 1 calorie of animal protein so that gives you an idea of how high the markup for vegatables is. It's strange but the reason is probably price discrimination. Only people with money even care about eating healthy. The poor eat processed foods.

Anyway, the idea posed by the op isn't bad but it isn't good either. There just isn't enough land in the city and most of it is owned by private landlords who have no interest in gardening. Poor people do not have their own yards.

 

[dphantom]

So you are willing to write a bigger check just so you know they are making a garden?

No I was being sarcastic.

Those people are helpless, so just write them out a check. Too hard to figure out something better.

The above is also sarcasm.

I would not mandate anyone grow a garden. I suspect if it was harder to get free money, gardens just might be more popular. But I would mandate there be some effort in return for getting free money from the US government. What form that may take is up for discussion, but in my world, everyone works for what they get from others. there is no free lunch.

 

[piasabird]

It takes dirt to grow food. Get a pot and grow some Cherie Tomatoes or something like that. My 80 year old Korean Mother-In-Law had a garden plot in New York City. She lives in Manhattan.