Introduction

Rooftops are places of fantasy and imagination - places that sit above the din and chaos of the city, engaged with and yet apart from the city's motion. Rooftops yearn for the sky and yet are grounded to the city through the buildings which they top. What better place could there be for a garden? Or even better, a garden and a source of food? In this thesis, I will explore the topic of rooftop agriculture, one that has little comprehensive literature written about it. I will examine case studies and the potential for the expansion of roof gardens, as well as barriers to their successful implementation.

Cities have effectively driven out agriculture from their boundaries. Food systems today seem more and more nonsensical - the number of farmers is in constant decline, as large agribusinesses win the majority of government subsidies and increasingly learn ways to combine petroleum (or mechanization) and grossly underpaid migrant labor into food. Food arrives in the city from hundreds of miles away. It is often neither fresh nor good. Pesticides and preservatives may also diminish the health value of produce.

There is an urgent need for more sensible food systems. A countervailing movement in organic and local produce branches from the dominant agricultural trend. This movement is closely linked to the idea of food security, a term established at the 1996 World Food Summit, referring to the availability of "safe, nutritious, personally acceptable and culturally appropriate foods, produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just."(1 Rabinowicz, 2002. See bibliography throughout for more detailed citations.) The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a report in 2000 stating that a total of 31 million Americans were food-insecure

in 1999, including 12 million children. (2 Ibid.) According to Nobel Prize-winning economist A.K. Sen, famine is not typically a product of inadequate food supplies; rather, it is more a consequence of the avoidable economic and political factors that lead to poverty and inequality.(3 Sen, 1981.)

One of the most vital components of this movement towards increased food security is a system of grassroots urban agriculture, grounded in community and school gardens. While urban agriculture cannot be relied upon alone to reduce hunger, it should be an important component of a comprehensive system of food security. Individual urban food production rarely confers self-sufficiency; more often it is a means to supplement one's diet with safe and adequate food. Through urban agriculture, city residents can learn to sustain themselves with food that they have produced with their own hands, but if urban food production is to reduce hunger and poverty, then it must also be part of a broader strategy.

Ultimately, urban agriculture should be coupled with other reforms aimed at reversing the concentration of agricultural production into fewer and fewer hands. This means supporting not only initiatives for urban agriculture, but also supporting small local farms and working to transform an unjust agricultural system in which large agribusinesses are subsidized at the expense of small farmers in and outside of the United States, and in

which fossil fuel use and mechanization are overused, at the expense of global environmental and social health, in part because of perverse taxes and subsidies. Agricultural mechanization was widely implemented throughout the world during the "Green Revolution" of the 1960s and 70s, when the creation of improved wheat, rice, and corn that were more responsive to controlled irrigation and petrochemical fertilizers allowed for more efficient conversion of industrial inputs into food.(4 Collins et al., 2000.) As a result of the new seed varieties of the Green Revolution, agriculture globally produces tens of millions of extra tons of grain a year.(5 Ibid.)

Some celebrate the Green Revolution for having saved millions of lives from starvation by increasing agricultural productivity, and others lament it for having reduced agricultural sustainability and global environmental health. The issue is indeed complex: agricultural mechanization seems an inevitable product and continuation of the Industrial Revolution, and the reasons for its development are both good and bad. But we need to be aware of its dominance and effects, both direct and indirect. According to World Bank and Business Week analyses cited by Food First, global hunger has actually increased since the Green Revolution, proving that the increased outputs made possible by agricultural industrialization do not seem to solve problems of world hunger, as inequality and poverty prevent an appropriate distribution of food.(6 Ibid.)Wealthier farmers gain control of agriculture when the viability to succeed competitively depends upon purchasing expensive inputs. Not only does this harm small-scale, local agriculture and waste fossil fuels, it also seems to adversely affect health and food security. In North America, the average food product in the supermarket has traveled 1400 miles before ending up on the shelf.(7 Rabinowicz et al., 2002.)

Urban gardens can provide a forum for community connections in addition to the produce that they can provide. Urban gardens often serve as purveyors of tradition for immigrant communities, for instance when immigrants are eager to continue agricultural traditions that they left behind in their native countries. Community gardens may offer immigrants the opportunity to grow food that they are otherwise unable to access in North America. Urban gardens can serve as urban oases -- as vital green spaces that offer city residents a respite from the concrete along with opportunities to connect with the dynamic lifecycles of a garden.

Rooftops are often places of privilege; top floors of buildings often turn into penthouse apartments for the rich. The heights of buildings are frequently rarified spaces. This distinction follows a classical notion of hierarchy, illustrated by a pyramid - the peak can be an untouchable, extraordinary space that floats above the masses. This makes sense. Height means distance from the masses of the city. Height for skyscrapers confers prestige on a business that calls the building its own. Height is distinction. Height is fresh air and escape. Rooftops can flatten the hierarchy when they are accessible to all and particularly when they hold community gardens.

Rooftop gardens, as a specific urban agriculture niche set within a broader system of city gardens, enjoy their own set of distinctive benefits. Rooftops are underutilized and rarely-considered urban spaces with great potential for creative development. There are essentially three options for rooftop gardens. The first is container gardening, a less formal, cheaper form of roof gardening. In container gardening, few to no modifications are made to the existing roof structure; containers - anything from plastic swimming pools to recycled-wood planters - are placed on a rooftop and filled with soil and plants. The second type of roof garden, in which the rooftop actually becomes the planting medium, involves more intensive investments, but comes with its own set of advantages, including greater storm-water retention, building insulation, and the formation of patchwork urban "stepping stone" ecosystems, which work to reverse the fragmentation of ecosystems that follows urbanization by offering temporary habitats to fauna such as birds and butterflies during their long migrations. The third rooftop garden possibility is rooftop hydroponics, in which plants are grown in a soilless medium and fed a special nutrient solution. Rooftop hydroponics can be the lightest of the three options and may offer the possibility for faster plant growth and increased productivity.

Conclusions and Implications

Despite having many benefits, roof gardens face clear challenges to their widespread application, in all of their forms - container gardens, green roofs, and hydroponic gardens. The most significant are issues of access and roof load capacity. These barriers are especially problematic in liability-obsessed countries like the United States, although concerns for safety and building protection are certainly valid. Lack of knowledge or incentives, funding, water supply, safety, and the harshness of rooftop environments are also major barriers. Still, rooftop agriculture is slowly becoming more common, particularly in the developing world, where rooftop food production may have a significant impact on food security and income, solutions are creative and site-specific, and roofs are often built of different materials than those in the developed world. The green roof industry is quickly gaining visibility and respect in North America, and a few cities, including Portland (Oregon), Toronto, Chicago, and New York, are beginning to create incentives for green roof construction. Still, we are a long way from the kind of progress that has been made in Switzerland and Germany.

It is unfortunate that so many green roofs are not built for accessibility, because inaccessibility prevents the realization of a great deal of rooftop potential. Without accessibility, green roofs serve many impressive environmental functions, yet additional community or food security benefits are lost. The inaccessibility of green roofs, of course, makes sense in light of cost constraints and liability concerns. The most ideal form of rooftop agriculture, in terms of its potential to maximize ecological, agricultural, and community benefits all at once, is in fact green roof agriculture. With the rapid expansion of the North American green roof industry, expansions for green roof agriculture might also expand. Of course, green roofs are also the most expensive of the three types of roof gardens, and, for that reason, are not a possibility for many sites. Nor do they make sense in all situations - where people have created a rooftop garden system that they can build out of local materials and repair and maintain themselves, as in

Senegal, India, and St. Petersburg, they use their intimate knowledge of local conditions and available materials to design elegant, simple systems that increase their self-reliance. But one would hope that as municipalities, states, and nations learn the advantages of creating incentives for green roofs, even now-unlikely green roof projects will become possible. Along this vein, affordable housing organizations are working with Earth Pledge Foundation's Viridian Project to bring green roofs to underserved housing communities in Chelsea, Harlem, and Brooklyn, all of which are to be completed by the summer of 2004.(92 Cheney, 2004.)

Rooftop food gardens work best atop buildings where food is consumed or processed - at 401 Richmond, for example, on an office building which houses a cafŽ, near restaurants in Brisbane, Australia, and atop houses or apartment buildings in Senegal, India, Italy, Montreal, and St. Petersburg. When land at

grade-level becomes available, food is not consumed close to the roof garden, or garden care has not been well coordinated, rooftop agriculture has

been less successful, for instance at Toronto City Hall's permaculture and kitchen garden green roof plots, on the Field to Table/FoodShare warehouse in Toronto, or with the brief herb plantings that Peter Carr-Locke did on MEC-Toronto's green roof. In countries like the United States, where food costs for many people are only a small part of income and most don't feel threatened about their food supply or safety, few people will take the initiative to begin rooftop agriculture projects. But those that do will create projects, whether short or long-lived, that spread a bit of the enthusiasm for the potential that roof gardens can have - and, just as urban community gardening has grown

tremendously within the past decade, into a real, vibrant movement -- so might rooftop agriculture. Erica and I, regardless, will continue to look hard

for a roof on which to try out our ideas.

NameThesis/Major Paper Title and Employment

Advisor

Year 2006

Buck, Steven

Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Alwang

Metcalf, Todd Andrew

“Modeling Farm-Level Costs of the Yield Reserve Program.” Employed: Legislative Aide Baltimore County, Maryland

Dr. BoschandDr. Pease

Feizollahi, Ali

Non-thesis/paper M.S. Dr. Taylor

Maupin, Jason Derek

“Valuing the Environmental Benefits from GM Products Using an Experimental Procedure: Lessons From the United States and the Philippines.” Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Norton

Spitzer, Ryan

Non-thesis/paper M.S., Employed: Ph.D. student School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech

Dr. Taylor

Young, Darin Clifton

“Profitability Analysis of Forage Based Beef Systems in Appalachia.” Employed: Carolina Farm Credit, Pilot Mountain, North Carolina

Dr. BoschandDr. Groover

Year 2005

Ames, Allison Jennifer

“Monte Carlo Experiments on Maximum entropy Constructive Ensembles for Time Series Analysis and Inference”Employed: Ph.D. student, North Carolina State University.

Dr. HilmerandDr. Spanos

Baez, Carolina

“Potential Economic Benefits from Plantain Integrated Pest Management Adoption: The Case of Coastal Rural Households in Ecuador.”Employed: Instructor, Universidad de SanFrancisco, Banos, Ecuador

Dr. NortonandDr. Alwang

Edwards, Josh

“Feed Price Risk Management: A Case Study of a Virginia Poultry Integrator.”Employed: Assistant Program Director, Agrimetrics Associates, Inc.Midlothian, Virginia 

Dr. Pease

Kleczyk, Ewa

Non-thesis/paper M.S., Employed: TargetRX, Horsham, Pennsylvania

Dr. Bosch

Knight, Russell Henry

“Export Taxes In Argentina: A Case Study”Employed: Agricultural Economist, National Agricultural Statistics Service, United States Department of Agriculture

Dr. Geyer

Mauceri, Maria

“Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Technologies: A Case Study of Potato Farmers in Carchi, Ecuador”Employed: AmeriCorps, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Dr. Alwang

Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob

“Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Extension Methods and Programs: The Case of Bangladesh”Employed: Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture

Dr. Norton

Tanellari, Eftila

“The Economic Impact of Investment in the Food Processing Industry in US Rural Counties: The Case of Scott County, Virginia”Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Reaves

Year 2004Thesis/Major Paper Title and Employment

Advisor

Andino, Alexandra Elizabeth

“Price Risk Management Strategies for Virginia Dairy Producers”Employed: Research Associate, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Purcell

Coppedge, Emily Jean

“An Economic Impact Assessment of the Green Industry of Virginia”Employed: International Business Machines, Washington, D.C.

Dr. AlwangandDr. Eaton

Morris, Alicia Moyer

“A Case Study Assessment of the Feasibility of Blended Training for Agricultural Lenders”Employed: Research Associate, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Kohl

Moyo, Sibusiso

“The Economic Impact of Peanut Research on the Poor: The Case of Resistance Strategies to Control Peanut Viruses in Uganda.” Employed: Statistical Analyst, TargetRX, Horsham, Pennsylvania

Dr. Norton

Victoria, Vanessa Francesca Villanueva

“Impacts of Best Management Practices on Farm Financial Performance.”Employed: Senior Project Economist, Triangle Economic Research, Durham, NC.

Dr. Kohl

Zhang, Xiaowei

“The Effects of Conservation Easements on Land Values”Employed: M.S. student, Department of Accounting and Information Systems, Virginia Tech

Dr. Geyer

Year 2003Thesis/Major Paper Title and Employment

Advisor

Bakshi, Nishita

“Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: The Case of Mexican Avocados”Employment: Independent Consultant, San Francisco

Dr. OrdenandDr. Peterson

Bonham, John

“Effects of Spatial Information on Estimated Farm Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Costs”Employed: Research Associate, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Bosch

Hutchins, Blair Henderson

“Rotational Grazing and Greenhouse Gas Reductions: A Case Study in Financial Returns”

Dr. Bosch

Mishra, Sanjiv

“An Ex-Ante Economic Impact Assessment of Bt Eggplant in Bangladesh, the Philippines and India”Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University

Dr. Norton

Mutuc, Maria Erlinda Manalo

“Increase in Calorie Intake Due to Eggplant Grafting: Proof of Concept With the Use of Minimum Datasets”Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Texas Tech University

Dr. Norton

Mykerezi, Elton

“Education and Socio-Economic Wellbeing in Racially Diverse Rural Counties: The Contribution of Historically Black Colleges and UniversitiesEmployed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Mills

Rios, Arturo, D.

“The Economic Feasibility of Partially Replacing Coal with Poultry Litter During the Production of Energy in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed”Employed: Economist, North Carolina Department of Revenue

Dr. Taylor

Watson, Daniel

Non-thesis/paper M.S., Employed: Brown & Edwards Accounting

Dr. Geyer

Wetzel, George L.

“A Parametric Simulation Model for Evaluating Cost Effectiveness of Remote Monitoring for Risk Reduction in Rural Water Supply Systems and Application to the Tazewell County, Virginia System”

Dr. ReavesandDr. Younos

Whitacre, Brian

Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Mills

Year 2002Thesis/Major Paper Title and Employment

Advisor

Boakye-Yiadom, Louis

“An Economic Surplus Evaluation of Aflatoxin-Reducing Research: A Case Study of Senegal's Confectionery Groundnut Sector”Employed: Ph.D. Student, University of Bath, UK

Dr. Norton

Bonabana-Wabbi, Jackline

“Assessing Factors Affecting Adoption of Agricultural Technologies: The Case of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Kumi District, Eastern Uganda”Employed: Assistant Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Economics, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Dr. Taylor

Cartwright, Lauren

“The Influence of Conservation Programs on Residential Water Demand: Synthesis and Analysis for Shared Vision Planning in the Rappahannock River Basin”Employed: Institute for Water Resources, Alexandria, Virginia

Dr. Stephenson

Crouse, Tricia L.

“Comparisons of the Educational Outcomes from Distance Delivered versus Traditional Classroom Instruction in Principles of Economics”Employed: Grant Administrator, Office of Sponsored Programs, Virginia Tech

Dr. Stephenson

Dickinson, Keith Randolph

“Deciding to Diversify: A Case Study of Seven Virginia Farm Businesses”Employed: Associate Extension Agent, Warrenton, VA

Dr. Jones

Hareau, Guy Gaston

“The Adoption of Genetically Modified Organisms in Uruguay’s Agriculture: An Ex-Ante Assessment of Potential Benefits.” Employed: Researcher at the National Agricultural Research Institute, Uruguay

Dr. Nortonand Dr. Mills

Johns, Andrew

Non-thesis/paper M.S., Employed: Internal Revenue Service, Washington D.C.

Dr. OrdenandDr. Peterson

Lensing, Christine

“The Economic Implications of Proposed Changes in the Retail Meat Pricing Series”Defended: September, 2002Employed: Research Associate, Virginia Tech

Dr. JonesandDr. Purcell

Mamaril, Cezar Brian Castillo

“Transgenic Pest Resistant Indica Rice: An Ex-ante Economic Evaluation of an Adoption Impact Pathway in the Philippines and Vietnam for Bt Rice”Employed: Instructor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Philippines Los Baños

Dr. Norton

Wilkerson, Joseph Edward

“A Case Study on the Economic Feasibility of Producing Maple Liners in a Traditional Tobacco Greenhouse.”Defended: April, 2002Employed: Farmer, Alton, Virginia

Dr. Jones

Young, Micki

“Cooperative Infrastructures for Small Water Systems: A Case Study”Defended: April, 2002Employed: Krispy Kreme, Winston-Salem, North Car-olina

Dr. Jones

Year 2001Thesis/Major Paper Title and Employment

Advisor

Angelis, Lucy

Non-thesis Master’s degreeDefended: May, 2001Employed: Rapid Response Unit, Private Sector Advisory Services, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Taylor

Bergtold, Jason

“Projected Economic Impacts of the New Partnership Agreement Between the EU and ALP States on the Senegalese Groundnut Sector”Defended: August, 2001Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Norton

Ghosh, Joydeep

“The Role of Virginia Tech in Human Capital Formation”Defended: July, 2001Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural Economics, Washington State University

Dr. Mills

Hudson, Taylor

“Strategic Alliances in Beef: Concepts and Design”Defended: January, 2001Employed: Market Analyst, M&M/Mars, Hackettstown, NJ

Dr. Purcell

Jenkins, Brian

“Tools and Techniques for Managing Risk for Virginia Grain and Oilseed Producers”Defended: July, 2001Employed: Commodity Analyst, Bellingham Commodities, Reston, VA

Dr. Kenyon

Sink, Scott“Developing Sustainable Agricultural Enterprises for Rural Communities: The Case of Packaged Agri-Tourism in Southside Virginia” Employed: Entrepreneur and Part Time Instructor, Depart-ment of Agricultural and Ap-plied Economics, Virginia Tech

Dr. Coale

Soufi, Widad

“Agricultural research in Senegal: Economic surplus evaluation of the adoption of peanut farmers”Defended: June, 2001Employed: Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin

Dr. Taylor

Spear, Ken“Effects of Access to Credit, Women’s Empowerment and other Factors on child Nutrition in Malawi”Defended: August, 2001Employed: Peace Corps, Togo

Dr. Alwang

Xu, Miao“The Exchange Rate and U.S./Canadian Relative Agricultural Prices”Defended: August, 2001Employed: Research Assistant, Virginia Tech

Dr. Orden

Year 2000Thesis/Major Paper Title and Employment

Advisor

Beddow, Jason

“Protocols for the Assessment of Economic and Environmental Effects of Integral Management Programs”Defended: May, 2000Employed: Ph.D. Student, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota

Dr. Norton

Kee, Gary “Hog Profit Margin Hedging: A Long-term Out-of-Sample Evaluation”Defended: April, 2000Employed: Associate Risk Manager, Kraft Foods, Glenview, IL

Dr. Kenyon

Shangguan, Zhaoyun

“Understanding Food Stamp Program Participation Among Female-Headed Households: Has it Been Affected by Participation in the AFDC/TANF Program?”Defended: July, 2000Employed: Graduate Student, Accounting Department, University of Connecticut

Dr. Alwang

Speir, Cameron

“Two Cost Analyses in Resource Economics: The Public Service Costs of Alternative Settlement Patterns and Effluent Allowance Trading in Long Island Sound”Defended: January, 2000Employed: Analyst, Oregon Public Utilities Commission, Salem, OR

Title: Using Information Communication Technology to Promote Agriculture for Youth Empowerment

This study explored the idea of using information communication technology to get more youth involved in the Jamaican agricultural sector. The primary focus of the study was to investigate why many youth in Jamaica do not choose agriculture as a career.  The objectives of the study were to determine the perception of youth in Jamaica towards local agriculture; determine the factors that influence Jamaican youth’s attitude towards careers in agriculture, and to explore whether or not information communication technology could be used to influence youth to choose careers in agriculture. This study also examined the advancements that have been made in information communication technology, as well as agricultural technology both globally and locally. The researcher’s intention was to examine how these advancements could be applied in encouraging youth to work in the agriculture industry, and consequently contribute to improving Jamaica’s overall economy.  The research involved reviewing existing literature on current information communication technologies (as well as modern biotechnology) being used to advance the agriculture industry. The study comprised male and female Jamaican youth between 15 - 24 years.

A total of 50 respondents participated in the survey. The respondents were selected using purposive sampling from academic institutions across Jamaica, which included the largest and oldest University in Jamaica; Jamaica’s only agricultural college, and high schools throughout the country. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through face-to-face questionnaire surveys and analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques, such as percentage tables and graphs. 

The study revealed that some youth in Jamaica have a negative view of local agriculture, and as a result are not encouraged to pursue careers in agriculture. The negative view of Jamaican agriculture held by these youth, has primarily arisen from a lack of access to adequate information on the vast opportunities that exist within the local agricultural industry. The study further revealed that the current strategies being used to promote agriculture among youth in Jamaica are inadequate.  At least two main conclusions may be drawn from this study. Firstly, the majority of youth surveyed have a poor perception of agriculture in Jamaica, as they believe that pursuing agriculture in Jamaica would cause them to have a low social status and a low income. Secondly, youth in Jamaica could be influenced to choose careers in agriculture. Youth could be influenced by ICT if it allowed them to be exposed to the many opportunities that exist within the Jamaican agriculture industry.   

To get a copy of the full version of this Thesis, please contact me at: keron.morris@gmail.com