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I love my chickens. I do not love the dropping-covered wasteland that is their chicken run. As I gingerly step around globs of excrement everyday to feed Rose, Sugar, Maple and Daisy, I can’t help but wonder what my gaggle of gals is doing to the landscape.

I can only imagine the city of Portland had these concerns in mind yesterday when it released two reports to streamline zoning regulations for agricultural use of urban land. The city released the and a separate that details health, environmental and economic considerations that could advise future zoning practices.

According to the concept report, current agricultural zoning addresses large-scale operations and not the bevy of small-scale operations: community-supported agriculture outfits, farmers markets and the like. The concept report encourages more gardening for personal use, farmers markets and other activities to make farming in the city more accessible.  The city plans to make a final zoning decision based upon further study and community input in early 2012.

If you are interested in providing your voice to the process, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is hosting three meetings in the next few weeks. The first is on July 28 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the .

Photo by via Flickr