City Farmer News: Innovative Gardens and Game-Changing Farming in Cities

City Farmer News is the up-to-date, actively changing digital centre of urban agriculture. It discusses everything from community gardens and roof gardens to new urban farming ventures around the globe.

Globally, the platform highlights innovations such as rooftop farming in India, where 250,000 square feet of gardens across 25 cities now supply up to 30% of seasonal vegetables for local communities. Similarly, in the United States, Baltimore showcases a thriving movement with 40 urban farms and more than 60 community gardens, many situated in areas prioritized for food equity.

City Farmer News also emphasizes waste management as part of urban sustainability. In India, innovative waste-to-compost programs see municipal bodies delivering organic waste directly to peri-urban farmers, who convert it into compost, reducing landfill pressure while boosting soil fertility.

• City Farmer, originally a paper newspaper starting in 1978 in Vancouver, advocated urban gardening and farming as a sensible means for city residents to conserve energy and produce food at home .
• Over time, it evolved into an online entity:
  • The website Urban Agriculture Notes, started in 1994 through cityfarmer.org, was the first blog-like website about urban farming.
  • As of January 1, 2008, City Farmer News (at cityfarmer.info) has been the primary outlet for publishing stories and news.

The website frequently includes articles from across the globe, written by Michael Levenston and others, highlighting positive activities such as:

• A parking-lot farm in Vancouver, which produces notable produce and offers work to those who have barriers.
• A 30-year-old Portland urban farm with fresh produce sold directly to the public at a garage-side stand.
• An elementary school urban farm in Tulsa that offers healthy food and educational opportunities.
• Montavilla Mini Farm in Oregon, providing a fresh-vegetable CSA, operated with organic principles through crop rotation and natural pest management.
• A tale of Alaska backyard-to-farm conversion—a single mother converts a tiny garden into successful 15-acre operation .
• Farm Raiser in Melbourne, a program converting city areas into agricultural production to provide food security .

Articles are categorized by themes such as Livestock, Urban Farm, Articles, and Videos to make navigation simple .

• Livestock: Tales of kids reaping the benefits of city farm livestock schemes.
• Urban Farm: Varied content on projects from community gardens to cutting-edge small-scale farms .
• Articles: Policy, land use trend, farming obstacle, and more feature content .
• Videos: Multimedia content on urban agriculture education, garden-based learning, and environmental justice.

• Educational Outreach: City Farmer is committed to educating urban dwellers in the area of composting, food growing, and sustainable land scaping .
• Practical Demonstrations: In Vancouver, it maintains a Compost Demonstration Garden, featuring climate adaptation gardens, green roofs, worm composting and more .

• Executive Direction: Michael Levenston is a key figure—he is the Executive Director and regular contributor who selects content and guides the direction of the platform.
• The website combines journalism with community outreach, presenting real-life stories, how-to guides, and urban agriculture inspiration to readers.

• Digital Trailblazer: What started in 1994 as Urban Agriculture Notes was City Farmer’s first digital leap into global urban-ag news. It evolved into City Farmer News, providing daily content to a worldwide audience.
• Widespread Audience Engagement: By the year 2002, the City Farmer website received 4 million hits from visitors from 186 countries, highlighting its wide-ranging impact.
• Cross-Border Collaborations: In 1999, City Farmer partnered with RUAF (Resource Center on Urban Agriculture and Forestry) in the Netherlands, facilitating trans-regional bridging of urban agriculture policy in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East .

• Demonstration Garden Excellence: Beautifully showcased in Garden Culture Magazine, City Farmer’s Vancouver garden is lush and educational. Some highlights are:
  • A Biodiversity Garden featuring insect hotels, fairy gardens, hop walls, and pollinator plantings.
  • The Organic Food Garden—previously a parking lot—is now full of squashes, kale, mushrooms, asian greens, and more, all supported by composting systems and a cob tool shed topped with a green roof.

• Rooftop Farming in India: An excellent article mentions Living Greens’ rooftop farming systems that were installed in 25 cities (Delhi among them), with an area of approximately 250,000 sq ft. The rooftop gardens can meet up to 30% of seasonal demand for vegetables in nearby neighborhoods.
• U.S. Urban Agriculture—Baltimore Spotlight: A spotlight on Baltimore’s vibrant urban farm scene—close to 40 urban farms and 60+ community gardens—particularly in “healthy food priority” areas, prioritizing both land use equity and sustainability as well as access to food.
• India’s Waste-to-Compost Initiative: City-Farmer News reports on a new city–farmer collaboration model in India: urban local bodies (ULBs) provide wet waste to peri-urban farmers, who compost it on-site—producing organic compost and lowering municipal landfill burdens .
• Other Recent Articles:
• A cost study assesses the feasibility of urban farming in Yamuna floodplain settlements of Delhi, comparing costs, inputs, and earnings of 150 households.