I would like to convert front yards into working gardens/farms for domestic consumption. Given the amount of time and money people spend obsessing about their lawns - including fertilizing, adding pesticides, cutting and irrigating - there is an opportunity (given the right seasonal conditions and soil fertility) to harness this time and energy into making more productive use out of their unproductive lawns. This would take pressure off the national food system which has been seeing rising prices due to increased commodity costs and translate into more disposable income to be spent on other things. Further, this would also greatly improve national nutrition levels and reduce food's carbon footprint by requiring less transportation. Finally, one could argue that a farm is an aesthetic improvement over the existing sea of green.
Implementing this program would have to involve some form of government subsidy for converting the land and education programs. Some of the money spent on food stamps in rural areas could be diverted to this program. The offset being that the government could agree to purchase surplus food and transfer it to those in need.
Finally, and somewhat tangentially, I believe this program could stimulate a renaissance of family values that come from hard work and self-production.
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The government is already paying farmers NOT to grow certain crops, and subsidizing others big time.
Appearance would also be an issue, to the neighbors, etc.
While most communities have regulations limiting the length of the grass in your yard not many communities have regulations requiring grass. We have a lot of people turning their lawns over to flower & fern gardens. They don't take any less work. Just less mowing.
Get a goat. They will trim the grass and give milk. Make goat cheese.
Try aquaponics, I use a greenhouse to feed my family and generate electricity back to the grid he in the Concrete jungle NYC. I use a greenhouse that is 10 x 20 fish grow in the bottom and plants float on top and push the waste through tubes, one tommato plant produced 112 pounds of tomatos, 70 pounds of cucmbers, 40 heads of let/cabbage a month. And it not an eye problem with the neighbors and there is no chemicals needed. PS fresh strawberrys at christmas is AWSOME.