Crops including cucumbers, potatoes and lettuce can have yields up to four times as high when they're grown in urban rather than rural areas, new research reveals – and that's an important finding for the future of farming.
Right now, it's thought that 15–20 percent of global food is grown in cities, including 5–10 percent of all legumes, vegetables and tubers. But we need a lot more data to figure out whether or not bulging cities can support themselves., the team behind the new study wanted to investigate the viability of urban agriculture as a way of improving food security, resilience, and sustainability.
In terms of which urban spaces work best for crop growing, there was no clear winner. However, some types of crops are particularly well suited to certain ways of growing, the research shows. Foods like lettuces, kale and broccoli are more naturally suited to being grown vertically, the researchers found. The study also showed that urban farming is going to work better for certain types of produce than others.
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