What's not to like about urban gardening? Who could possibly be against food security and food justice? Why waste valuable city resources enforcing phased out zoning violations on "punk" urban farmers growing chard? All good questions.
In my research I learned about something called the Oakland Food Policy Council. It's an organization established to "promote an equitable and sustainable Oakland food system". Some really great stuff there and some really well researched positions on urban agriculture in Oakland. One paragraph in one of the items, OFPC's Statement on Urban Agriculture caught my eye and it may be a bit challenging to get behind:
"Integration of animals into urban food production systems"? Does that mean backyard slaughterhouses? Because those might (under some strange logic) "benefit Oakland's urban farmers and gardeners" but they definitely don't benefit our neighborhoods and most certainly do not benefit the animals. The issues are many: public health, public nuisance, economic concerns, and animal welfare issues. Unfortunately these issues are not addressed in the OFPC policy recommendations. You'll find no pictures of slaughterhouses in the well designed reports. You won't even see a picture of an animal in there.
“In addition to the priority policy recommendations above, there are several other areas where updated policies could benefit Oakland’s urban farmers and gardeners, including raising animals and livestock. For example, Seattle’s new urban agriculture zoning increased the number of chickens permitted per household and added other allowed animals, including potbelly pigs. The OFPC also strongly supports the integration of animals into urban food production systems because they provide products that can improve the diets of Oakland’s residents (e.g. fresh milk, honey, eggs, and meat). Some urban farmers collect wool and goat hair for cottage industries. Finally, manure is an important fertilizer source for sustainable, ecological food production that is not reliant on petroleum-based chemical fertilizers.”
"Integration of animals into urban food production systems"? Does that mean backyard slaughterhouses? Because those might (under some strange logic) "benefit Oakland's urban farmers and gardeners" but they definitely don't benefit our neighborhoods and most certainly do not benefit the animals. The issues are many: public health, public nuisance, economic concerns, and animal welfare issues. Unfortunately these issues are not addressed in the OFPC policy recommendations. You'll find no pictures of slaughterhouses in the well designed reports. You won't even see a picture of an animal in there.
In all the recent excitement OFPC seems to have gotten a bit too far ahead of itself here. Perhaps it's time for everyone to chill out, take a trip out to the garden, and rethink this business of backyard slaughterhouses?
