Tommy Harwood reveals how urban agriculture is contributing to food security

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Entrepreneur Tommy Harwood, founder of Redway Feed, Garden & Pet Supply, explains the growing importance of urban agriculture.

Providing access to affordable and healthy food for individuals and families at risk of food insecurity, urban agriculture is today playing a significant part in contributing to society both in the United States and elsewhere around the world, according to Tommy Harwood. A farming expert and entrepreneur based in southern Humboldt County, Harwood reveals more about urban agriculture’s role in supporting food security among those most vulnerable.

“In recent years, urban agriculture has begun to play a major role in preventing food insecurity by bolstering supplies of affordable, healthy, and accessible food for those most at risk,” reveals Harwood, a resident of Whitethorn, California, and founder of Redway Feed, Garden & Pet Supply. Both in the United States and overseas, urban agriculture is today supporting, in particular, he says, those most vulnerable to food insecurity, especially in and around more major towns and cities.

“As urban areas continue to expand in size, and as populations both here in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world continue to grow and grow, urban agriculture is now more important than ever,” suggests Harwood.

“Particularly here in the United States, our ever-growing major towns and cities are becoming increasingly expensive places to live,” explains the farming expert. The same, however, is also true in many other nations, from the most to the least developed countries, according to Harwood. “The result of this,” the entrepreneur continues, “is, ultimately, greater food prices and higher-than-ever levels of food wastage, both of which are contributing massively to the growing issue of food insecurity.”

Tommy Harwood believes that many of the world’s major, contemporary cities, as well as larger towns and extended metropolitan areas, must work to establish sustainable solutions to food insecurity as a matter of utmost urgency. One such solution, he says, is urban agriculture. “Investment into urban agriculture and education surrounding urban agricultural practices are becoming increasingly important as the so-called ‘urban sprawl’ of our towns and cities continues to spread,” adds the expert.

Population growth, expanding urban areas, and increasing poverty levels in many regions mean that something must change, according to Harwood, if a greater risk of food insecurity is to be avoided. Urban agriculture, he says, is, however, already combating the issue, at least to a degree, in many areas where the practice has been implemented on a meaningful scale.

“Supported by the necessary local investment and the appropriate education, urban agriculture, I believe,” Tommy Harwood adds, wrapping up, “is among the most viable and important solutions to combating the growing problem of food insecurity, and is something in which we must all invest both our time and effort if we’re to continue to address the matter on a truly meaningful scale moving forward.”

Entrepreneur Tommy Harwood, of Whitethorn, California, is the founder of Southern Humboldt Farm, Feed and Ag Supply, Inc., now known as Redway Feed, Garden & Pet Supply. Harwood is deeply invested in community outreach programs in the census-designated area of Redwood and across much of southern Humboldt County, where he now both lives and works. Alongside Redway Feed, Garden & Pet Supply, Harwood’s other business ventures include garden supply retailer Crop King, and business management services firm Good Elements, Inc.

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