Courtesy RUAF
In the Urban Agriculture course of action on policy - qualification at Ryerson University , students will review a suit written report about urban farming in Freetown , Sierra Leone .
The United Nations Development Program estimates there are 800 million residents worldwide who enter in urban farming . In developing country , urban husbandry is an important survival technique that ply home with nutritive food and a source of income . In more prepare urban surroundings , green movements , shin thriftiness and nutritionary concerns have been the main catalyst for the urban farming movement . A plebeian factor within all these motivations for urban habitant to spring up their own food is the security that harvest home provide the farmer .
Ryerson University in Toronto is merging the link between food security and urban farming with its new Urban Agriculture concentration offer to participant in their Food Security program . The university is also put up an Urban Agriculture concentrated postgraduate - grade certificate in Food Security to those who make out the corresponding Urban Agriculture course series .
“ I suppose it is of import to see urban agriculture as part of a series of activeness that need to be undertaken to facilitate food insecurity and make levelheaded local food system , ” says Reg Noble , the academic coordinator of the Food Security program .
The credentials course of study has been developed in partnership with G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education , Ryerson ’s School of Nutrition , and the Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security ( RUAF ) in the Netherlands , a ball-shaped leader in urban agriculture inquiry and development . Ryerson ’s Center for Studies in Food Security has delineate nutrient surety through five characteristics : availableness ( sufficient total ) , accessibility ( constant physical and economical access ) , adequacy ( food sources that are alimental , dependable and produced in an environmentally sustainable agency ) , acceptableness ( available food that is culturally accepted ) , and means ( policies and processes should promote food security ) .
To attain a tightness in Urban Agriculture from the Food Security program , pupil must participate in four elective online course that encompass the technical aspects of urban farming and the governmental policies that influence them . The program stresses the importance of urban Department of Agriculture as a means to develop sustainable , intellectual nourishment - strong and healthy urban environments .
“ In our food security certification programme , which includes the urban agriculture course series , our objective is to explore how to make economically and ecologically sustainable food system that bring home the bacon good and healthy food and , in particular , systems which are establish on societal justice and popular determination - making , ” say Noble .
With the majority of the world ’s universe migrating to urban landscape painting , widespread food crises , clime change and immense conglomeration controlling major share of the world ’s food supply , the emphasis on urban agriculture brings many solutions to looming food - security concerns . The instructors have a diverse grasp of expertise in the land of food protection cast from human nutrition , evolve intellectual nourishment systems resilience model , environmental studies , gender bailiwick touch to USDA and sustainability , biotech , international development , and governing policy , initiatives and programme .
Because the courses are offered remotely , those outside Toronto and the university can recruit in the coursework . student who attain a accumulative GPA of 2.0 or above and complete six online food - security form , choosing four elective trend bear on to urban agriculture , take in Food Security certification with an Urban Agriculture immersion from Ryerson . The university accepts post - postgraduate applicants ( those who nurse a unmarried man ’s degree in any field ) who have maintained a minimum 2.0 GPA . Also , non - degree holders with at least five yr of relevant work experience can obtain admission to the program upon the approving of an academic advisor at the university .
“ It is important to see that policy and action have over many sector in our societies dissemble our food system , either directly or indirectly , and subsequently impacts mass ’s power to be solid food secure and the health of our environment , ” Noble say . “ Our course is intended to enkindle cognizance of these connection and provide practical skills and knowledge to ensure that bon ton can work toward transforming our currently flawed food systems to 1 that will ensure our food security now and for future multiplication . ”
