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Urban agriculture might seem like a contradiction in terms. After all, doesn’t agriculture happen in the countryside, not in towns and cities? But most of us live in towns and cities and there are spaces there, too -  spaces where fruit, vegetables and herbs can be grown; where livestock can graze; where agriculture can happen.

Many of the 300,000 or more people who produce some of their own food only have small spaces – from gardens and allotment plots down to grow bags and window boxes. Some keep a few chickens for their eggs. Some keep a goat for its milk. Many do it only for pleasure. Others would like to but don’t have a space. The only thing they have in common is the urge; the variety of its expression is immense.

URBANAG seeks to bring spaces and growers together. We believe more food needs to be produced where its consumed. Only this approach will secure supplies, only this approach will reduce the costs and environmental damage of global transportation. But we don’t just focus on individuals and their own satisfaction. Although enjoyment is surely a vital ingredient of our enterprise, URBANAG’s deepest concern is with communities and their need.

The inner cities are all too often sinks of poverty and disadvantage. Without any access to fresh food, the cycle of deprivation is reinforced – bad diet spoils life chances; poor life chances destroy opportunity. Bringing fresh food to impoverished areas can also bring economic benefits, jobs for the jobless, a healthier and more enjoyable environment – in a word, hope.

URBANAG helps create the partnerships needed to make this happen. We believe food can be produced and distributed in urban areas through a coordinated and mutually beneficial plan of action, at a level enabling businesses to be created and communities to be well served – a virtuous, not a vicious, circle.

If you share this vision, we would like to hear from you. We want you to get involved. We welcome approaches from individuals, groups or organisations seeking to develop a project, local authorities and other public bodies, and private enterprises with a professional interest in urban agriculture.

URBANAG is funded by bidding for contracts or grants in its own right, and by working as a partner in wider funded or grant aided projects or programmes.