Walking Potatoes & Wilder-Beasts: An Examination Of The Socio-Ecological Relationship Between Humans And Mammals In Urban Agriculture

This project explores the positive and negative interactions and conflicts that arise between the people and mammals working, visiting, and living in urban farms and community gardens. This involved an anonymous survey of people that work and grow in the research sites, and the use of trail cameras to capture the mammals that visited the sites. The study examined two urban agricultural sites from August to November 2022, in Toronto, ON: one urban farm and one community garden, both with proximity to urban wildlife habitat.

Growers have a complicated, nuanced relationship with the various species living in and benefitting from these miniature agricultural landscapes. Trail cameras at both sites captured numerous species, as well as several individuals who made repeated visits. Conflicts at both sites arose from the eating and spoiling of crops, and damage to infrastructure by wildlife, but some participants felt positively about their interactions with some species.