Nope.

The nonprofit American Planning Association adopted a policy in May that encourages its members, 65 percent of whom work for state and local government agencies, to help build “stronger, sustainable and more self-reliant” local food systems.

Until recently, most planners were only peripherally concerned with food systems. Their involvement in conserving agricultural land stemmed more from a desire to protect open space than from an interest in preserving local food production.

“Yet, among the basic necessities of life – air, food, shelter and water – only food has been given short shrift by the planning community,” write the authors of Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning. That has now changed, though it’s important to note that these are guidelines rather than enforceable rules.

Are urban/suburban food gardens only for the affluent?

Nope:

…in a movement that recalls the back-to-the-land idealism of the 1960s and ’70s…this time, the land is in the city and may be as minimal as pots on a windowsill.

“I am conserving my personal resources and the world’s resources by staying home and tending to my garden,” Ruby said. “We can all benefit from slowing down and spending time doing something that’s right in front of us.”

Her North Oakland backyard, wedged between stark apartment buildings and old houses divided into rental units, is only 3 1/2 years old, but it’s a testament to her efforts.

Starting with a single apple tree, she improved the soil using sheet mulching, and now she has a lush, productive vegetable garden that includes nine kinds of heirloom garlic, artichoke plants that grow over her head and a beehive.

This month she began the Institute of Urban Homesteading to teach what she has learned to other city dwellers.

Perhaps we’ll even be able to get “community gardens” like they have in parts of Europe. Everyone plants, works it and shares the bounty throughout the year or growing seasons. Organic, delicious and lower-cost with an significantly lower carbon footprint as well.

JoFish, that day seems to have arrived. With escalating food costs, folks have already started to “in-fill” urban land for gardens.

This being SF, some have jumped in as “guerilla gardeners” (plant now, ask questions later) on long-neglected lots. Yet this particular approach has drawbacks:

Urban gardener Antonio Roman-Alcala was involved briefly with the garden at Fulton and Stanyan streets. A proponent of using vacant city lots for food production, he has shifted his view on taking over gardens without permission.

“I think that land is such an insane commodity in San Francisco,” he said. “I think that means the legality around it is a huge constraint. Spaces that are abandoned are not necessarily unwatched.”

While such actions make a political statement, he said, they often create antagonistic relationships and seldom result in a lasting project.

A more mainstream – and probably more likely to produce a harvest – approach has also taken root here:

If San Francisco resident Kevin Bayuk has his way, every unused plot of land in this densely packed city, from narrow, shaded alleys to concrete-laden yards, will be transformed into organic-food-producing gardens.

Bayuk and other urban gardeners with big dreams but little capital are striving to create a metropolis that can feed itself.

[snip]

Over the past year, as a project for the San Francisco Permaculture Guild, a group of gardening and design professionals, educators, activists and volunteers, Bayuk has been on the hunt for open space in San Francisco.

Bayuk and the guild envision what amounts to a reincarnation of tenant farming, in which gardens are built and tended in private vacant lots by volunteer growers. Unlike tenant farming, however, landowners would not be paid, and the produce would go to local food banks and possibly even be sold at farmers’ markets.

Most owners intend to develop these lots, but the permit process often takes years, and during that time the land sits fallow and sometimes blights the neighborhood. Some owners don’t live in the city and are unaware of the state of their properties. That’s the perfect time, Bayuk says, to install a temporary organic garden. If the lot has exposed earth, he says, the soil would be tested, and if it’s not contaminated, seeds and starts could be planted directly in the ground. If the lot is paved, container gardens or beds could be installed.

I have grave concerns about so much of our food supplies sources are outside the USA. AS fuel prices keep going up, having local sources of goods will increase [hopefully] where we the people can have more say over the quality and oversight.

The average millage of every item in a grocery store is between 1200-1500 miles.

And a big part of that is the varieties of vegetables — there;s a whole world of stuff that doesn’t travel, doesn’t all ripen at once, isn’t approp for mechaninical harvesting. And coincidentally, tastes waay better.

katymine and lee5 – thanks for raising those excellent points. Peak Oil’s arrival says “bye-bye” to the (subsidized) energy our current long distribution chain relies upon. And as lee5 notes, the nutritional value of the long-distance produce tends to be grossly inferior to the nutritive value of fresh, local produce.

Even if carbon-based energy for transport were limitless, and the transported produce were every bit as nutritious, long food transport chains (in general) increase global warmings [noting exceptions like NZ lamb imported to the UK].

Try dill, borage, cosmos, angelica, caraway, rock cress, yarrow, calendula, goldenrod, and especially tansy. Bee balm is good too, but it spreads so much it can be hard to control.

Perhaps we’ll even be able to get “community gardens” like they have in parts of Europe. Everyone plants, works it and shares the bounty throughout the year or growing seasons. Organic, delicious and lower-cost with an significantly lower carbon footprint as well.