Research & reports

Jessica Ann Diehl · · Global

This chapter investigates urban agriculture in Singapore through a political ecology lens, examining food security from the perspective of traditional commercial farmers. Growing urban food demand and risks inherent in reliance on the global food system have spurred city governments to implement diversified strategies for integrating urban agriculture at different scales; Singapore, a high-earning city-state that imports 90% of its food, has set a target of raising domestic food production to 30% under its Singapore Green Plan 2030 "30 by 30" Grow Local target. The chapter questions whether this level of food independence is achievable if food production shifts away from traditional farming toward high-tech operations such as rooftop or vertical farms. Semi-structured qualitative interviews covered four topics: general farm practices, social networks, benefits and barriers, and livelihood alternatives. Findings were examined in the context of a rising generation of high-tech entrepreneurial farmers facing the challenge of meeting consumer demand against land and labor scarcity. The in-depth case study demonstrates that technology is only one driver, among many, of the sustainability of the local food system in Singapore, and traditional commercial farmers face pressure on their livelihoods as policy shifts toward high-tech production.

Francesco Orsini, Giuseppina Pennisi, Giorgio Gianquinto, Michael Martin · International Journal of Vegetable Science · Global

This paper argues that widely publicized figures on urban agriculture's environmental impacts lack the methodologically sound evidence needed for valid comparison, before conclusions can be drawn. It addresses problems in comparatively assessing environmental performance between rural and urban farming and argues for the need for specifically designed indicators capable of comprehensively assessing multifunctional urban agriculture.

Jennifer C. Franco, Saturnino M. Borras · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global

This chapter examines the dominant convention in critical agrarian studies and agrarian movements — that land struggles are best captured by an agrarian-reform framework of expropriating land from large private monopolies for redistribution to landless and near-landless working classes. It argues that while this type of struggle remains important, it does not fully capture the range of land struggles of working people across rural and urban, agricultural and nonagricultural spaces. Over recent decades the working classes have fragmented, as the numbers of people combining agricultural/nonagricultural and rural/urban livelihoods have vastly expanded, decentering working people's land struggles from the classical treatment tied to agriculture and capitalism. Land struggles today are dispersed and multisited, with political leadership and power that are polycentric rather than unified, and span multiple scales.

Iman Mamnoon · GeoFocus Revista Internacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Información Geográfica · Global

Using a GIS-based risk assessment methodology, this study develops a quantitative food-insecurity scale for the most vulnerable urban populations, calculating risk as a combination of social vulnerability and hazard (difficulty of access to food distribution), and applying the model to two case studies: southeast Washington, D.C., in the United States and Puente de Vallecas in Madrid, Spain. A Social Vulnerability Index was computed from average income, education level, unemployment rate, and age, while hazard values were derived from proximity to supermarkets. The analysis identified high-risk food-insecurity areas in both neighborhoods requiring urgent intervention measures. In Puente de Vallecas, census tract 07913143 was identified as a high-risk hotspot with a Social Vulnerability Index of 1.646495 (range 0.901–3.223) and a risk value of 3 (range 3–10); in southeast D.C., tracts 7601 and 7605 were selected as high-risk zones for further study, with Social Vulnerability Index values of 2.221 and 1.737 (range 1.040–3.525) and risk values of 2 and 5 (range 0–10), respectively. The study also identifies a general shortage of areas combining residential and commercial use and limits on public transport availability in the food-insecure urban areas studied.

Annamaria Gentile, Luca Di Stasio, Gianmaria Oliva, Giovanni Vigliottá, Angela Cicatelli, Francesco Guarino, Werther Guidi Nissim, Massimo Labra, Stefano Castiglione · Environmental Research · Global

A review examines the dynamics of antibiotic resistance (AR) in urban soils, cataloguing multiple sources that introduce antibiotics into urban soil, including domestic wastewater, industrial effluent and urban agricultural practices, as well as microplastics and domestic animal excrement. It states that the selective pressure from these anthropogenic sources promotes the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria through horizontal gene transfer among soil microorganisms, poses a significant public health threat by potentially transferring resistance genes to human pathogens via direct contact, food consumption and water ingestion, and disrupts microbial community dynamics in ways that affect soil fertility, plant growth and overall environmental quality.

Madison Powers · · Global

This chapter surveys the food-security implications of agricultural land use, unsustainable features of widespread food production practices, and the debate over agricultural intensification versus extensification, then examines land use's consequences beyond the land itself for groundwater, surface water, oceans, ambient air quality, and planetary systems. It explains the causes of forest destruction and fragmentation driven by the global expansion of land used for "high-risk commodities," the linkage between deforestation and declining terrestrial biodiversity, and the global market dynamics driving both crises. It assesses socioeconomic and ecological shortcomings in some proposed nature-based solutions, showing that they perpetuate an unsustainable business-as-usual approach, and summarizes how these land-use issues are conceptualized as human-rights concerns and translated into policy proposals.

Tarek Ben Hassen, Hamid El Bilali · · Global

This book chapter combines bibliographical and topical analysis of scholarly and gray literature with case studies from Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries to examine the state of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) amid regional climate pressures — rising temperatures and frequent droughts damaging limited water resources and threatening agriculture and food security. The chapter reports that UPA in the region lacks adequate infrastructure and resources, including access to water, suitable land and equipment, and that in many MENA cities, the absence of government initiatives combined with land tenure problems and high land prices makes UPA less prevalent and less viable; it concludes that improved policy support and enabling regulations — including zoning rules and financial and technical support — are needed to expand UPA in the region.

· LCR Diario Digital · Argentina

A regional Argentine newspaper report on the national Ministry of Human Capital's March 2024 discontinuation of ProHuerta, the national program providing free seed kits for household gardens. In the Villa Regina area of Río Negro province, the local Comisión de Fomento of Valle Azul stepped in to purchase and freely distribute 100 seed kits for the spring-summer season, while INTA (the national agricultural technology institute), though no longer funded to buy seeds, continues to offer free technical advice on soil improvement and pest control.

Setyardi Pratika Mulya, Heru Purboyo Hidayat Putro, Delik Hudalah · Geography and sustainability · Global

This 2023 global systematic literature review examined peri-urban agriculture (PUA) as an ecosystem service, focusing on urbanization pressures and governance. The review found that PUA is crucial for urban areas in terms of food supply, ecology, biodiversity preservation, disaster mitigation, and recreation. However, massive urban expansion is a primary cause of PUA loss, and sociocultural biases have led to institutional constraints on peri-urban management within existing political and regulatory frameworks.

Andrés G. Rolhauser, J. Scott MacIvor, Adriano N. Roberto, Selena Ahmed, Marney E. Isaac · Ecological Solutions and Evidence · Global

This paper addresses the limited understanding of conditions under which stress-tolerant "nurse" plants can facilitate stress-intolerant "protégé" species on extensive green roofs for urban agriculture. It proposes a framework and linear model, integrating trait–environment theory and facilitation ecology, to make testable predictions on protégé species performance along stress gradients. The framework aims to help researchers assess the feasibility of nurse–protégé interactions under various environmental conditions.

Annie Drottberger, Yizhi Zhang, Jean Wan Hong Yong, Marie-Claude Dubois · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · Global

This systematic literature review, based on 45 articles, examined the benefits and challenges of rooftop greenhouse technology. While benefits include optimized land use, increased profitability, good yields, and resource efficiency, the review identified significant challenges. These challenges include additional investment and operational costs, limited availability of flat roofs, and various regulations, which hinder the widespread adoption of rooftop greenhouses.

Jérémie Forney, Julien Vuilleumier, Marion Fresia · · Switzerland

This study on the local contract farming (LCF) movement in Switzerland is based on an ethnography of three LCF networks. The research focuses on the contract that formalizes the "promise of difference" and the redefinition of food quality and value. It acknowledges both the potential for transformation of LCF ventures and their clear limitations, aiming to foster discussions beyond simple statements of success or failure.

Claudia Rochael Oliveira, Eneida Maria Souza Mendonça · Geografia (Rio Claro) · Global

This article aimed to map authors discussing environmental aesthetics in urban agriculture research, inspired by Porteous's work. Using a bibliographic survey and visual representations, the study found no publications intersecting urban agriculture and environmental aesthetics. Research on urban agriculture and landscape was notably greater than on urban agriculture and aesthetics, and studies applying aesthetic theory to urban agriculture were very limited, especially in high-tech contexts like vertical farms.

M. S. Aduah, Saviour Mantey · South African Journal of Geomatics · Ghana

This study used geospatial techniques, multi-temporal land use maps, and population data to estimate urban land use efficiency (LUE), changes in built-up area per capita, and urban sprawl speed (SS) in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan area of Ghana. While LUE generally improved from 2002 to 2016, it deteriorated slightly between 2016 and 2021. Critically, agricultural land or grassland in the city has been converted to built-up land, posing a challenge for urban agriculture.

Herbert Mandigo, Teddious Mhizha, Terence Darlington Mushore · Applied Sciences · Zimbabwe (Harare)

This study investigated the implications of urban growth on maize yield in Harare metropolitan city, Zimbabwe, from 1984 to 2018 using Landsat data. Cropland area was reduced from 11,120 ha in 1984 to 2631 ha in 2018. Consequently, the estimated average maize yield decreased significantly from 52,264 tons in 1984 to 12,366 tons in 2018, demonstrating that urban growth has the potential to compromise food security.

Muhammad Luqman, Muhammad Uzair Awan, Shaukat Khan, Razzaq Ahmed, Hsi‐Hsien Yang, Muhammad Rizwan Goraya · Agricultural Water Management · Pakistan (Lahore)

A study in Lahore, Pakistan, investigated trace element (TE) contamination in water, soil, fodder, and buffalo milk due to the use of untreated wastewater from the Hudiara drain for agriculture. Samples collected along the drain showed that TE contamination, including Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn, increased from upstream to downstream sites. Concentrations of these elements in water, soil, fodder, and milk surpassed permissible limits, indicating a significant transferability risk up the food chain and high Hazard Index values for irrigation water, fodder, and milk.

Institut de Gestion des Techniques Urbaines, Université Larbi Ben M’hidi, MERIEM BENLAHRECHE, Saïd Mazouz, Département d’architecture, Université Larbi Ben M’hidi · Revue Roumaine de Géographie / Romanian Journal of Geography · Algeria

This article aims to explain urban phenomena in Hamma Bouziane, Algeria, a city known for its fertile land. The study indicates that the peri-urban agriculture of Hamma Bouziane is suffering negative repercussions due to unbridled urban expansion and socio-economic changes.

Moussa Coulibaly · International Journal for Advanced Studies and Research in Africa · Côte d'Ivoire (Korhogo)

This study in Logokaha, Korhogo, Côte d'Ivoire, aimed to show the impact of urban agriculture on food production and the health of farmers. Despite contributing to the empowerment of farmers, urban agriculture exposes them to health hazards. The methodology involved documentary research and field surveys.

Pavlo Ardanov, Annette Piorr, Alexandra Doernberg, Sonja Brodt, Jennifer B. Lauruol, Iryna Kazakova, Valentyna Movchan, Lucas A. Garibaldi · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

This study assessed information from multiple sources to design diversified cropping systems with vegetables and spice crops for cold temperate climates, integrating trait and observational data from databases, farmer surveys, and literature reviews. While farmers achieved medium to good levels of their main goals, they failed to reach desired multifunctionality with their polycultures. None of the individual data sources provided a comprehensive dataset, but combining them increased crop combination options while also increasing planning and management complexity.

Ghassan Baliki, Dorothee Weiffen, Pepijn Schreinemachers, Akina Shrestha, Rachana Manandhar Shrestha, Monika Schreiner, Tilman Brück · Food and Nutrition Bulletin · Nepal

A cluster randomized controlled trial in rural Nepal (n=680 school children aged 9-13 across 30 schools) investigated whether an integrated school and home garden intervention improved hemoglobin levels and reduced anemia. The intervention did not lead to a direct significant reduction in anemia, as nutritional improvements were not strong enough to impact hemoglobin levels. However, the program indirectly improved hemoglobin levels for children under 12 by increasing good food and hygiene practices at home, particularly for girls, young children, and those with literate caregivers.

Nurdiana, Muhammad Hasan, Miranda, Muhammad Ihsan Said Ahmad, Citra Ayni Kamaruddin, Thamrin Tahir · International Journal of Social Science and Business · Global

This qualitative study analyzed the implementation of the 7P marketing mix for processed agricultural products by the Orchid Women Farmer Group, using observations, interviews, and FGDs with 4 informants. The 7P marketing mix was generally implemented, with supporting factors including self-confidence, cooperation, and encouragement from agricultural extension workers. Inhibiting factors were identified as lack of literacy and limited time, which affect the implementation process.

COULIBALY Moussa · International Journal of Advanced Research · Côte d'Ivoire (Korhogo)

This study in Korhogo, Côte d'Ivoire, surveyed 81 farmers to assess the impact of urban agriculture on food production and farmer health. It found that urban agriculture, predominantly practiced by women (85.19%) with no formal education (71.61%), involves the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with non-adherence to application intervals. A significant portion of farmers (59.26%) discard chemical packaging in the environment. Despite contributing to empowerment, this practice exposes farmers to health problems including fatigue (53.09%), injuries (25.92%), skin burns (11.11%), dry coughs/colds (32.10%), and diarrheal diseases (19.75%).

Sadika Parvin, Md. Shahidul Islam · Khulna University Studies · Bangladesh

This descriptive quantitative study assessed the social acceptance of rooftop gardens among city dwellers in Bangladesh, surveying 475 participants online. While approximately three-quarters of respondents showed positive attitudes towards rooftop gardening, about one-third had negative attitudes, indicating unwillingness, with similar trends observed for behavioral perceptions. The study revealed that one-third of respondents still held negative attitudes and just over one-third had negative behavioral perceptions towards rooftop gardening.

Shannon Doocy, Emily Lyles, Robert Kenyi Morjan, Kayla Pfieffer-Mundt, Courtland Robinson, Kevin Savage · Agriculture & Food Security · South Sudan

A prospective cohort study in South Sudan (2019–2021) examined the impact of cash assistance for work in community gardens on food security among 1213 cash-receiving, 582 non-intervention, and 300 later cash-receiving households. The study found no significant differences in changes over time in household hunger, coping strategies, or meal frequency between participants and the comparison group. Cash transfers did not appear to have lasting benefits on food security and livelihoods coping strategy use.

Sandrine Simon · Urban Governance · Portugal (Lisbon)

This study examined urban agricultural initiatives in Lisbon, Portugal, and their integration into urban planning strategies for sustainability, using Design Thinking methodology for a literature review. The integration of urban agriculture into urban planning is identified as a complex problem due to conflicting goals among actors. The research suggests that Design Thinking could assist urban planners in addressing this challenge by providing flexible, iterative, and participatory approaches.