Most everyone knows that I have been working to have COJ amend our zoning code to allow for more Urban Agriculture, which is a strong national trend. After meeting with the Planning Department (who is very receptive), the next step is to get City Council on board.

So, I have been working on contacting community groups all over Jacksonville to gather more support. Most community groups have been very open to hearing more about this.

So I have put together a Q&A based on one that Denver distributed when they changed their code and also pulled from the American Planning Association's book, Urban Agriculture: Growing Healthy, Sustainable Places.

Frequently Asked Questions
Note: Throughout this document, the term Food-Producing Animals
is often abbreviated as “FPAs.”

The COJ is in the process of researching how to incorporate Urban Agriculture into their zoning code. This FAQ is meant to help the public understand what Urban Agriculture is and answer some questions.

If after reading this, you would like to see Urban Ag worked into Jacksonville’s zoning code, please email your city council representative and let them know it.

Community Gardens
What is a community garden? Small to medium scale production of food-producing and ornamental plants, on contiguous or discontinguous plots of land, located on public or private property in residential areas, gardened and managed collectively by a group. Gardening activities and end products are typically used for consumption or education; however they may also be sold on or off-site, depending on local government regulations and the goals of the garden as a collective effort.

Why should community gardens be written into the zoning code as an acceptable use? NE Florida has seen a tremendous amount of community gardens pop up in the past 2 years. With rising food costs expected and the present economy, this number will probably continue to increase.

Writing them in would also deal with obstacles such as the accessory building obstacle. Currently, accessory buildings are not allowed on a lot if there is no primary building. Accessory buildings include a tool shed or a coop for an egg co-op. Tools are very much needed at the site. If hens get written in too, many people have expressed interest in belonging to egg co-ops in the back of community gardens, but it will not be possible to build proper housing with out the ability to build an accessory building.

Urban Farms
What is an Urban Farm? Urban farms include larger-scale production of food-producing or ornamental plants, bees, fish, poultry, or small to medium-sized farm animals for commercial purposes using a variety of horizontal and vertical growing techniques including in-soil, container, hydroponic, and aquaponic growing systems. End products are typically sold on- or off-site at a stand, market, or store. If large enough, urban farms may adopt the community-support agriculture (CSA) distribution model, through which consumer’s of the farms produce over the growing season also share in its risks.



What are some examples?
GreensGrow Farm in Philadelphia
Red Planet Vegetables in Providence
Springdale Farm in Austin
Brooklyn Grange Farm in Brooklyn
Holly Grove Market and Farm in New Orleans
Growing Power in Milwaukee
Lynchburg Grows in Lynchburg
GROWHAUS in Denver

What are the benefits of Urban Farms?
Economic Development: According the USDA’s Economic Research Service, in 2009 US residents spent more than $600 billion on food prepared at home and more than $526 billion on food purchased outside the home. This presents a significant economic opportunity for regional food systems that wish to tap into this revenue stream. The issue of regionalizing the food system is becoming more pressing as urban planners and policy makers confront rising energy prices and climate change. Reliance on foods from Europe, Asia, South America – or even distant regions in the US – is cost-effective for households as long as energy prices remain relatively cheap and water is readily available. Many urban gardeners and farmers have recognized these trends and argue that the survival of our cities depends on bringing food production closer to home. While most urban farms are relatively small scale, economic multiplier effects such as sales, earnings, tax revenue, and jobs become evident as producers become networked together.

Foster Resilient Cities: Resilient cities are able to adapt to changes that stress their social, environmental, and economic systems; they create redundancies and alternative systems to respond to challenges such as food and oil prices, emergency weather, and economic downturns. The vertically integrated, heavily consolidated, industrialized food system contributes to a lack of resilience in both urban and rural communities.

Reclaiming Vacant Land: Though typically viewed as a problem, vacant land can become an important community asset if identified and rehabilitated. Areas plagued by abandonment, crime, trash, and weeds can be transformed into flourishing, colorful, and agriculturally productive open spaces the provide immediate economic, environmental, and health benefits. Abandoned buildings, if structurally sound, can be reused for food production processing, distribution, or disposal purposes: as seed banks, community or commercial kitchens, food cooperatives, tool sheds, barns, or other animal shelters, hen houses, farm worker housing, or in some cases, greenhouses.

General Food-Producing Animals Information
What are Food-Producing Animals? Food-Producing Animals (FPA), for the purpose of this discussion, are chickens and dairy goats.


Why would someone want to raise FPAs in their backyard? There are a wide variety of reasons why urban dwellers choose to raise Food-Producing Animals.
Health – Home-raised eggs and dairy have been shown to contain more “good stuff” (like vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids) and less “bad stuff” (cholesterol and saturated fats) than their conventionally raised counterparts. Plus, it is easier to ensure that the animals haven’t been given antibiotics and hormones if you’re raising the animals yourself. There are also many people who are unable to digest cow’s milk, but can easily digest goat’s milk.
Environmental – Each item of food in the American diet travels an average of 1500 miles from the farm to the table. Home food production reduces the use of fossil fuels (and the accompanying pollution) from transporting food. Also, the vast majority of eggs and dairy are produced in Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs), which pollute surface and ground water.
Food Safety & Security – Food that is produced in CAFOs is vulnerable to contamination from food-borne bacteria like E coli and salmonella. Plus, backyard Food-Producing Animals can provide a reliable (and inflation-proof) source of healthy protein for families. Less than 1% of the food that is consumed in Denver is produced in Colorado. That leaves our residents extremely vulnerable to disruptions in the food system due to extreme weather or other catastrophes.
Economic – It used to be common knowledge (not to mention common sense) that raising one’s own milk or eggs was cheaper than buying them from the store. These animals are still cost-effective, even when raised in small numbers – especially if you compare the quality of what they produce (i.e. organic, pastured, grass-fed) to the cost of buying a comparable product. Access to healthy, affordable protein can make a big difference to families, especially if they are lower-income.

If you want to live this way, why don’t you just move to the country?
There are many reasons why people live in the city – for jobs, for schools, because they own their home and can’t move, etc. Honestly, saying to someone “why don’t you just move” is a fairly economically insensitive statement.
Scale is everything. It doesn’t make sense to raise 500 chickens or 200 head of cattle on a city lot – that’s better left to folks in the country. But can a small flock of chickens or ducks plus a couple of goats have a clean, safe home in a Jacksonville backyard? Most definitely.
The idea that city-dwellers should not have the right to produce food on their small piece of land is unfair, and it leaves urban residents entirely dependent on people in the country to produce 100% of their food.

How are urban residents going to learn how to properly care for these animals?
In many cities where these animals are now allowed to legally be kept, non-profits have started offering classes. There are also numerous online resources, including forums (http://www.backyardchickens.com), that allow new animal owners to interact with veteran animal raisers. In addition, there are a wealth of books about raising these animals, at least a couple of which specifically address raising them in a city (The Urban Homestead, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading).


Basic Information About Food-Producing Animals
Hens
How large are hens?
Regular (sometimes called “standard”) hens weigh between 4-6 pounds. Bantam
Hens weigh 1-2 pounds.

Do hens make a lot of noise?
Female chickens are generally very quiet. Chickens may cluck a little bit when they are laying an egg. Once it’s dark outside chickens go completely silent. They can’t see at all in the dark, and they hunker down and don’t make a peep. Roosters are the noisy ones (the animals that crow when the sun rises) and are not appropriate for the city.

Do small urban flocks smell bad?
Chickens raised in a small backyard flock have very little in common with chickens in a large, commercial operation. When chickens are given adequate space and proper bedding (straw or pine shavings), their manure does not build up and cause odor issues. The manure that does exist can be easily removed and properly disposed of. Manure on grass is a great fertilizer. And again, scale is everything: a flock of a few vs. a flock of 200

Do urban fowl attract predators to the neighborhood?
Small mammal predators are a fact of life in the city. Outdoor cats, squirrels, birds, and (most especially) our garbage all ensure that predators will continue to stick around. In fact, with our city’s trash system, there are probably several dead chickens right now on every block in Jacksonville. They’re in the dumpsters – the chicken carcasses that people throw away after dinner, or grocery store rotisseries throw out whole if they don’t sell by the end of the day. This isn’t to say that if you put a live chicken in front of a fox then the fox won’t eat it, but it’s not correct to think that a few chickens would impact the predator population when there is already such a vast abundance of available food for them to eat.

There are multiple cities throughout the country that have enacted FPA ordinances. One can reasonably assume that if FPA ordinances resulted in an increase in urban predators, then cities which had passed FPA ordinances would be taking steps to repeal their ordinance as soon as possible. Instead, the opposite is occurring. Fort Collins and Longmont both had sunset provisions written into their initial FPA ordinances, which would have allowed them to easily revoke the ordinance after one year. Neither city chose to invoke the sunset when the first year was over, thereby leaving their FPA ordinances intact. Seattle has recently taken steps to expand its FPA ordinance, going from 3 hens and 3 dwarf goats up to 8 hens and 3 dwarf goats.

Do small urban flocks carry diseases?
A veterinarian testifying at a chicken hearing in Greeley (and quoted in the Greeley Tribune) said that there are 12-14 diseases that cats and dogs carry which can be transferred to humans, compared to just 2-3 that could be carried by chickens or ducks. Sometimes people worry about chickens carrying the “bird flu.” The fact is that wild birds carry many strains of bird flu, just as humans carry many strains of human flu. Most strains of bird flu do not infect humans, and bird flu does not pass through the air. There have not been any cases of the more dangerous bird flu strain (H5N1) in the U.S. If there were to be an outbreak of H5N1, it is most likely to happen in a crowded Concentrated Animals Feed Operation (otherwise known as a “factory farm”). So, the more we can decrease our collective support of CAFOs, the less likely we are to expose ourselves as a society to animal diseases.

How many eggs does a flock of chickens lay each day?
The number of eggs a chicken owner can expect varies considerably depending on the time of year (fowl lay more in the summer and less in the winter) and how old the animal is (laying will decrease as the bird ages). The general rule is that you can expect 2 eggs per day for every 3 birds.

Is fowl manure toxic?
Fowl manure is remarkably safe, especially when compared to dog and cat feces. While dogs and cats are wonderful, their feces are toxic to humans (cat feces can even contain toxoplasmosis) and cannot be used in compost or to fertilize a garden. However, fowl manure is a wonderful addition to compost, and can also be used as garden fertilizer. It is a wonderful addition to garden compost heaps.

Are fowl a threat to children?
Female chickens do not bite or act aggressively toward children.

Are fowl able to fly over fences?
Generally speaking, a 4-foot fence is adequate to keep chickens contained. Of course, higher fences would be even more effective, and chickens can also be kept contained in a fully enclosed poultry run. If a fowl owner has a chicken that is an exceptionally good flyer, the owner can trim the feathers on one of the wings and effectively “ground” the bird.

What are the benefits to owning fowl, besides eggs?
Fowl are great at quickly recycling food and garden scraps into useable fertilizer. Many fowl owners find that feeding their leftovers to the chickens is a much more efficient way of composting than the tradition “mixing greens and browns” method. Chickens also enjoy eating bugs, which some people find helpful. Raising backyard Food-Producing Animals is a great way to involve children in a family project where they feel like they’re making a real contribution.

Plus, chickens can be great pets. They have distinctive personalities, and can be very social.


2-3 Dairy Goats
How big are goats?
Female goats usually reach a weight of about 120-140 pounds when they’re fully grown. Wethered (neutered male) goats can weigh up to 160 pounds. These animals are about the size of a German Sheppard or Husky and smaller than a Mastiff or Great Dane.

Should there be a restriction on the gender of the goats?
We would like to see the COJ amend the zoning code to allow the keeping of female (doe) and neutered male (wether) goats. Un-neutered or intact male goats (bucks) emit a strong aroma, can be noisy, and are not considered suitable for the city.

Do goats make a lot of noise?
Goats bleat occasionally, but the average goat bleat is quieter than the average dog bark. Also, remember that some dogs bark when a person walks by, or if they see a squirrel, or if they’re defending their territory, or if they’re bored. Goats don’t bleat in any of these situations. Goats are a “prey” species, not a “predator” species. Their natural response to a threat or unusual situation is to become very still and quiet. Because of this they are also completely quiet at night

Do goats smell bad?
Female (doe) and neutered male (wether) goats do not smell. The “goaty” smell you may be thinking of is emitted by un-neutered male goats (bucks). Bucks do smell tremendously bad, and they’re not suitable for the city.

Goat urine is less odorous than cat urine, and it is easily absorbed into the ground or straw bedding. Goat manure is “dispensed” in small, compact pellets (similar to deer or rabbit droppings). Goat manure does not smell or attract flies the way that cow and horse manure does.

Do goats carry diseases?
Goats do carry occasionally contract diseases (like Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis or enterotoxemia) that can affect other goats, but they are not transferable to humans. Potential goat owners can get an inexpensive test for CAE before bringing a goat home, and it’s recommended that goat owners get their goats vaccinated regularly with what is known as a “CD&T” vaccine, which protects against enterotoxemia and tetanus. Again, this is for the health of the goats. It is not comparable to a rabies vaccine, which exists to protect both dogs and humans. Hoof-and-mouth disease (also sometimes called foot-in-mouth disease) is not an issue in the United States. The last outbreak in this country was in 1929, and according to Dr. Richard Wallace with the University of Illinois Extension, the United States is considered to be free of this infection.

If goats need vaccinations, then will that be required in a zoning ordinance?
Goat veterinarians that goats receive an annual "CD&T" vaccine. This vaccine protects goats against enterotoxemia and tetanus. The reason why this vaccination is not usually included in Food-Producing Animals ordinances is because enterotoxemia and tetanus pose a hazard only to the goats. They are not a public health threat (unlike rabies, for example). Therefore, the CD&T vaccination is considered a "best practice" for the health of the goats, but is not required by law.

How much milk does a goat produce?
Goats do not lactate 365 days a year, and the milk output will decrease as a goat approaches the end of her lactation cycle. However, on average, you can expect to get between 1-2 quarts of milk per day from a goat.

Is goat manure toxic?
Goat manure is remarkably safe, especially when compared to dog and cat feces. While dogs and cats are wonderful, their feces are toxic to humans (cat feces can even contain toxoplasmosis) and cannot be used in compost or to fertilize a garden. However, goat manure is a wonderful addition to compost, and can also be used as garden fertilizer.

Are goats a threat to children?
Female and neutered male (wether) goats do not bite or behave aggressively toward people. It is recommended that goat owners get their goats disbudded (dehorned) when the goats are babies, to minimize the risk of goats getting their horns caught in fencing or injuring another goat through typical goat play.

Are goats able to jump over fences?
Goats are notorious for being mischievous, but a 4-foot fence is sufficient to keep a goat contained.

What are the benefits to owning goats, besides milk?
Goats are great at quickly recycling vegetarian food and garden scraps into useable fertilizer. Many goat owners find that feeding their leftovers to the animals is a much more efficient way of composting than the tradition “mixing greens and browns” method. Goats are also great hiking companions, and can even carry a small pack! (The doggie backpacks available at pet stores work well for this.)

Raising backyard Food-Producing Animals is a great way to involve children in a family project where they feel like they’re making a real contribution. Plus, goats are great pets. They are said to be as intelligent as dogs, and become very attached to their owners.

Caring for Food-Producing Animals
Hens
How much space do hens need?
The truth is that the more space you can give your hens, the happier they’ll be and the easier it will be to keep things clean. However, it is possible to be a responsible urban fowl owner even if you don’t have lots of space. For the purposes of raising a small urban flock, 10 square feet of permeable space per bird is the commonly accepted minimum standard..

In terms of shelter space, the proper minimums vary depending on the setup you have for your birds. Some chicken owners have just one structure, which serves as both the nighttime, predator-proof enclosure as well as the daytime shelter (chickens and ducks must be provided with a way to be protected from the elements during the day). However, other chicken owners provide a smaller, predator-proof nighttime enclosure, and then give the birds a larger daytime sheltered space. You can reference “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens,” the http://www.backyardchickens.com website.

Are the minimum space requirements adequate to raise fowl in a healthy and safe way?
Yes. The “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens,” which is a well-respected text on the subject of raising backyard birds, recommends a minimum of 4 square feet of “open” (i.e. permeable) space for the largest chickens, which are classified as “heavy” birds. However, the more space you give your fowl the happier they will be and the easier your job will be as a chicken owner.

What should I know about choosing a shelter for my hens?
The most important thing to know is that your fowl’s nighttime shelter must be predator proof. Hens are especially vulnerable to predators when it gets dark, because their night vision is quite poor.

What do hens eat?
Fowl are omnivores, which means that they can eat most kinds of table scraps. They also enjoy eating weeds and most kinds of plant scraps from gardens. It’s good to also provide fowl with specially formulated poultry feed, which can be purchased from a number of Jacksonville-area feed stores or farmers. They are especially fond of insects and will quickly rid your yard of most insect pests.

How do I dispose of the manure from my hens?
It’s important to note that fowl manure (unlike the feces from cats or dogs) is not toxic to humans and can be safely composted and added to gardens.
1. Manure can be gathered along with the bedding (straw or pine shavings) and composted in a covered bin.
2. Manure can be securely bagged and thrown away, the same as litter.

How long do hens live?
A well-cared for chicken could live 8 years, or even a tad longer in unusual cases.

How long do hens lay eggs?
Chickens are most productive in their first two (and sometimes three) years of laying. After that they may continue to lay eggs sporadically, but it will be infrequent.

What are my options once my hens stop laying eggs?
Fowl owners have several options once their animals stop laying:
- Keep them as pets. The likelihood of families wishing to do this is part of the impetus for a new ordinance. Some families are large enough to require 8 laying hens at once, but many can get by with just 3 or 4. In the educational outreach that we hope will be happening as a part of a new ordinance passing, the city and sustainability groups will be encouraging families to err on the side of smaller flocks. A family can start with 3 laying hens, then 3 years later add 2 more chicks, then 3 years later add 2 more chicks, etc. The older hens will still lay occasionally, and supplement the production of the younger birds. This allows families to keep their older fowl, because they often become pets.
- Re-home the chickens through Craigslist (it is legal to sell/give away livestock on Craigslist). Jacksonville has a lot of agricultural land surrounding it, and often the people who live in those areas are more than happy to take unwanted Food-Producing Animals. These "country folk" have a lot of sense, and aren't likely to turn down a free Food-Producing Animals.
- Donate the fowl to a wildlife raptor rescue program to be used as animal food. This allows chicken owners to safely discard older birds, while helping to support the rehabilitation of other animals.
- There are places who are willing to process hens for a small fee.
- Hens owners can take the animals to the veterinarian and have it euthanized.

What if I decide I no longer want to keep my fowl?
As we mentioned above, there are many options for re-homing Food-Producing Animals like chickens. See answer to previous question.


Goats
Is it ok if I just own one goat instead of two?
No. Goats are very social animals, and they will become distressed (and sometimes ill) if they are made to live without a companion. A dog (or other non-goat animal) is not a suitable companion, unless the dog will be living outdoors with the goat 24 hours a day. If you don’t wish to own two does, you can get one doe and one wether (a neutered male) as a companion. Wethers are significantly less expensive than does, and can sometimes be acquired for free.

How much space do goats need?
Goats benefit from at least 15 square feet of sheltered space per animal, plus at least 130 square feet of outdoor space per animal. So, two goats need a shelter (like a shed) that’s at least 30 square feet, and a fenced yard of at least 260 square feet. The ag extension office says: 1 acre for every 1000 lbs of goat.

What do goats eat?
Goats are herbivores. It is important that they always have access to hay (either grass or alfalfa) to maintain healthy digestion. In addition, they can eat goat grain as a treat, plus weeds and vegetable/fruit table scraps. Hay and goat grain can be purchased at one of the many feed stores in the Jacksonville metro area.


How do I dispose of the manure from my goats?It’s important to note that goat manure (unlike the feces from cats or dogs) is not toxic to humans and can be safely composted and added to gardens.
1. Manure can be gathered along with the bedding (straw or pine shavings) and composted in a covered bin. Be sure to let it compost for 90 days before adding it to vegetable beds.
2. Manure can be securely bagged and thrown away, same as litte.

Do goats have to have babies to produce milk?
Yes. Just like all mammals (including humans) goats must have a baby in order to produce milk.

How many babies does a goat typically have at once?
Goats typically give birth to two babies at once, although they can have between one and three (or, very occasionally, four) babies at once.

How will I find homes for the babies?
Goats are in demand, both in the Jacksonville metro area and in the more rural communities surrounding Jacksonville. Some people who are looking to acquire goats are interested in home dairy production. Others want animals for 4-H projects, or just as pets for their children. Even if you limit your search to the areas within an hour’s drive of Jacksonville, there are a lot of people with space for goats, and an awful lot of demand (especially for the dwarf breeds).

A proposed FPA ordinance would hopefully require that goat babies are re-homed well before they reach full adult size (before the babies are 6 months old). Since babies can be weaned at 8 weeks, that is usually the time at which goat owners send the babies to their new home.

How long do goats produce milk?
Goats produce milk for around 300 days after kidding. If a goat owner has two does, he or she can alternate the goat’s breedings so that one goat is always producing milk.

If intact male goats aren’t allowed, how will I breed my goats?
There are goat owners who live outside of Jacksonville. Urban goat owners can load their animal into the back of the car(this is actually how most goat owners get their goats around) and drive them out of the city in order to be bred.

How long do goats live?
A well cared for goat can live for 12-14 years, although it’s not uncommon for goats to die after 10-12 years.

What are my options once my goat stops producing milk?
Goats can continue to be bred until they are around 10 years old. A goat that is well cared for can live for a few years after that. Since goats have notably distinct personalities, they are often kept as pets until they pass away. However, there are many people who live in rural areas and maintain large herds of goats, and often provide a home for unwanted goats with their herd. A goat owner could also take their animal to be euthanized at the veterinarian once it become older, and is no longer productive.

What if I decide I no longer want to keep my goats?
As we mentioned, there is a high demand for productive goats. If your animals are still young enough to produce milk, you can find new homes for them through Craigslist. If your goat is no longer productive, you can follow the suggestions from the previous question.

How Will FPA’s Affect Real Estate Value?
There are multiple cities throughout the country that have enacted FPA ordinances. One can reasonably assume that if FPA ordinances resulted in a decrease of property values, then cities which had passed FPA ordinances would be taking steps to repeal their ordinance as soon as possible. Instead, the opposite is occurring. Fort Collins and Longmont both had sunset provisions written into their initial FPA ordinances, which would have allowed them to easily revoke the ordinance after one year. Neither city chose to invoke the sunset when the first year was over, thereby leaving their FPA ordinances intact.

Seattle has recently taken steps to expand its FPA ordinance, going from 3 hens and 3 dwarf goats up to 8 hens and 3 dwarf goats.


How Have Other Cities Legalized Community Gardens, Urban Farms, and FPA’s?
Most cities in the US have already done this, so there are a ton of various codes to read through and they each differ slightly according to what will work in the specific region. But there are some threads of similarity:

FPA’s are generally written into the code via an annual permitting process. This way there is city oversight into how the animals are being cared for. Most FPA’s have to have proper housing and space for them as well that is written into the zoning code.

Farms and Gardens are generally permitted with restrictions on size, on and off site sales, definitions and use of accessory buildings such as: tool sheds, hoop houses, etc

Some cities have Urban Agricultural Districts that allow urban ag related uses. This is a good way for a section of town to build in an economic development tool, similar to the way arts districts do.