Urban agriculture – population’s attitude towards practice and products in Latvia

Abstract

The food growing practice is connected with Latvia's cultural-historical heritage and traditions, due to which agriculture, especially in the form of micro-farming for household self-consumption, is a developed practice in Latvia, including in cities. Trends of urban agriculture, which are characterised by inclusion in dimensions of the sustainability, develop the practice of community gardens that in Latvia are currently in the development stage. This highlights the need to evaluate the population's attitude and views on the aspects of urban agriculture in Latvia. The agricultural sector in Latvia is developed and rural regions are relatively close to urban areas, therefore, agricultural practices in cities for the realization of production can create a different, even negative attitude of society towards urban agriculture and its relevance in Latvia. Therefore, the aim of this study is the assessment of the attitude of the population in Latvia towards practices and products of urban agriculture. In order to achieve the aim, two tasks have been set: 1) to analyse the attitude of Latvia’s population towards the practice of urban agriculture; 2) to analyse the population's attitude towards urban agricultural products, in the context of their food choice criteria. To fulfil the tasks, a survey of Latvia’s population was conducted. In general, the population's attitude creates supportive aspects for urban agriculture in Latvia, but challenging are aspects of the attitude regarding the potential pollution of food in the urban environment, its role and performance in cities, which population do not associate with agricultural practices.