Course 1 - Understanding Urban Agriculture (CVFN 410) Schedule: May 10-August 9, 2008; Duration: 42 hours; Fee: $456 (CDN)

Millions of people practise urban agriculture globally and governments and civil society organizations increasingly promote it, to enhance urban food security, health, community building, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental management. This course expands the understanding of urban agriculture, its main types and dimensions, its potential impacts, the constraints and opportunities facing it, the stakeholders involved in it, the historical contexts shaping it, and the local, regional, and international development trends bearing on it.

Please click here or scroll down to the bottom of this page to access the free self paced version of this course.

Course 2 - Dimensions of Urban Agriculture (CVFN 411) Schedule: September-December, 2008; Duration: 42 hours; Fee: $456 (CDN)

In the context of current debates on the global food crisis, post-oil economy, climate change etc. the potentials of urban agriculture or localised food production are more and more discussed. In order to contribute to these discussions, Ryerson University, ETC Urban agriculture and the Resource centres of Urban Agriculture and Food security (RUAF) have developed a new distance learning course on the Dimensions of Urban Agriculture. The course will deal in detail with the different dimensions of urban agriculture: its food security dimensions, environmental, health and social dimensions, economic dimensions and urban agriculture as a strategy to increase cities' resilience. It will quantify and qualify urban agriculture impacts in these various areas where possible, discuss how to asses these
impacts at local level and illustrate policy and intervention strategies as to enhance UAs' contribution in the various fields. In short, a course that will provide you more food for thought and inputs for action planning or policy lobbying.

The course will start coming September and will be fully offered on-line. Please find here a further description of the course. Costs for
participation amount to Canadian Dollar 456 (for Canadian and international participants alike).

For further information on course content, set up or inscription please contact: Reg Noble, Ryerson Coordinator of the Food Security Certificate.

For more information on these courses, as well as for instructions on enrollment please contact: Marielle Dubbeling or Joe Nasr
Or see our flyer or visit www.ryerson.ca/ce/foodsecurity. for further details. To express your interest in the accredited urban agriculture courses, please complete this form.

Course 3 - Urban Agriculture Types, January-April 2009, Fee: $474 (CAD)

Urban agriculture is increasingly being considered as a strategy for building more resilient cities. Triggered by the current global food and economic crisis, governments and civil society organizations are promoting its development to enhance urban food security and health, alleviate poverty and strengthen urban livelihoods, support community building, contribute to urban environmental management and greening, and provide educational and recreational services.

Urban Agriculture is a dynamic concept that involves input supply, production, agro-processing and marketing of food and non-food products in and around urban areas.  Successful policies and action programmes should take into account the variation in types of urban farming, each with their own characteristics and specific potentials and limitations vis-à-vis the realization of certain policy goals.

The course “Urban Agriculture Types” is the third course in a series of 4 courses developed by Ryerson University’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education and Centre for Studies in Food Security (www.ryerson.ca/foodsecurity) in partnership with ETC-Urban Agriculture (www.etc-urbanagriculture.org) and the international network of Resource centres on Urban Agriculture and Food security (RUAF) (www.ruaf.org). This specific course will start discussing various urban agriculture production systems -such as home-gardening, community gardening, school and institutional gardens, small-scale commercial horticulture, livestock or aquatic production, large-scale (peri)urban agriculture enterprises, urban forestry and multi-functional farms - in terms of their resource-use, location, policy and institutional frameworks, functions, technical aspects, development challenges and support needs. Moreover, it will look into urban agriculture input supply, processing and marketing systems. The course will discuss which of these urban agriculture types can best be promoted in a given situation, where in the city, and how this could best be done. It will specifically look into a methodology for farmer-centered learning, research and extension for urban agriculture development.  Examples and case studies from around the world will be used for further illustration and learning.

For further information on course content and enrolment, please contact:

Reg Noble, PhD, Academic Coordinator, Certificate in Food Security, Continuing Education, Ryerson University, Email: food@ryerson.ca