Urban Conservation Agriculture.

Vegetables are important sources of vitamins and nutrients for human nutrition. USDA recommends filling half of the food plates with vegetables in every meal. While it is important in promoting good health, access to fresh vegetables is limited especially in urban dessert communities. Conservation agriculture (CA) with vegetables  may be a solution to the food desert problems in the US as well as in other communities worldwide with limited access to fresh vegetables. This may be done by converting part of the lawns or impervious surfaces to vegetable production through CA. CA could prove attractive to homeowners by having fresh vegetables and also by reducing their inversion or tilling of soil to control weeds and soil moisture retention by the presence of continues mulch that controls weeds and diverse species rotations that potentially limits the insect, pests and diseases . This poster exhibits the results of three years vegetable yield results of converting part of a lawn into conservation agriculture vegetable plots as well soil chemical and physical properties gathered during the almost 3 year period. In particular it shows soil respiration rates, bulk density, pH and others.