The urban farming fad has gone viral.  Many people are growing veggies in community gardens and on roof tops, using the experience to improve their awareness of food production. 

I thought I’d take the food awareness bit to a whole new level this year, and decided to grow some of the most widely grown global food crops on our roof.  Here is what it looks like when you plant corn, wheat, rice, soy, and potatoes in one small area in a roof in Boston.  Note that I’ve included how many tons of each of these crops are produced, based on 2004 data from the FAO.

As you can see, the rice has been the slowest grower, and the wheat and potatoes are taking over.  And there appears to be a vintage International tractor emerging from this agrarian jungle.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t plan on any of these plants to produce any food.  This was just for fun.  But by growing them and reading about them, I have learned a lot about how each of these plants grows and how they are used in our global food supply.

The plants pictured are in the top 7 global food crops.  Missing from the picture are the number 1 food crop, sugar cane (I didn’t even bother trying to make myself ‘aware’ of how difficult that would be to grow) and number 5 sugar beets (I have beets growing in a nearby veggie box…. does that count?).