Research & reports

Ibrahima Saidou · Journal of Environmental Science and Allied Research · Cameroon (Yaoundé)

A 2014 study in Yaoundé, Cameroon, surveyed 40 farmers and analyzed soil in two valley bed suburbs, Nkolodom and Nkolbisson, to identify soil constraints on urban agriculture. While nitrogen and phosphorus levels were adequate, soil salinity at Nkolodom was brackish to moderate (810 mS/m), potentially constraining crop growth. Soil fertility was also found to decrease with distance from farmers' houses.

Delphine Bernadette Ouédraogo, Delwendé Innocent Kiba, Zacharia Gnankambary, Sheick K. Sangaré, Diakouba Sirima, Hassan Bismarck Nacro, Michel Papaoba Sédogo · Journal of Agricultural Science · Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)

This study investigated cropping practices and their drivers in 133 peri-urban farms near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Soil sample analysis revealed that monoculture led to low soil organic carbon, while polyculture led to low soil available potassium. The socio-economic conditions of the farms explained up to 60% of the variability in cropping practices.

Julian Cribb · Cambridge University Press eBooks · Global

This paper points out that none of the world's megacities can feed themselves, and food chain risks pose an imminent threat of starvation. It presents concepts such as climate-proof food supplies, novel urban food production systems, the importance of urban permaculture, rewilding, and developing wise consumers as solutions to urban food risk. However, it does not explicitly state that these solutions fully resolve the issue of urban food self-sufficiency.

Lucy Rose Wright, Ross Fraser Young · Manchester University Press eBooks · Global

This chapter introduces the concept of political gardening, contextualizing its rise within neoliberal processes and academic interest in urban gardening. It conflates political gardening with injustice, drawing on Rawls' theory of social justice. The chapter uses case study examples to define political gardening as a six-stage iterative process that participants undergo to address injustices and become engaged, democratized citizens.

Joeli Silva de Souza, Ryzia de Cássia Vieira Cardoso, Lídice Almeida Arlego PARAGUASSÚ, Sidione Ferreira dos Santos · Revista de Nutrição · Brazil (Salvador-Bahia)

A cross-sectional exploratory study in Salvador-Bahia characterized community gardens, with five out of seven gardens participating and data collected from 13 horticulturists. 80.0% of gardens lacked land legalization, 100.0% operated without technical support, and 60.0% had no social organization. Major difficulties included lack of funding, volunteers, and water use restrictions, indicating insufficient policies limited technical support and financing.

Alice A. Oluoko-Odingo · Journal of Climate Change and Sustainability · Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines gender mainstreaming in adaptation to weather and climate extremes, centered on peri-urban farming in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although women provide most agricultural labour, they remain poor and among the most vulnerable to weather and climate extremes because of inequalities in ownership of and decision-making over land, assets and cash; even in well-planned African cities, developmental and environmental challenges continue to perpetuate inequality, discrimination and underdevelopment, with low-income communities living in risky areas without access to key services and facing heightened vulnerability. Combining literature review with fieldwork in peri-urban Nairobi (Machakos and Kajiado Counties), Kenya, the paper discusses how gender mainstreaming in peri-urban farming could support Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 13, while noting the research gap on gender mainstreaming in peri-urban farming as itself a problem the field has yet to address.

Ioannis Manikas, George Malindretos, Konstadinos Abeliotis · Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing · Global

An essay that states urban food production is exposed to high levels of urban-generated contaminants, and argues that urban floriculture - an intensive form of agriculture with income per unit area far higher than other agricultural branches - can offer a more sustainable and socially acceptable alternative to urban food production. It states floriculture may also reduce the carbon footprint of cut-flower transport and provide higher-quality seasonal product, and examines urban floriculture as an approach for mitigating the negative impacts of global floriculture supply chains.

Lucy Rose Wright, Ross Fraser Young · Manchester University Press eBooks · Global

A chapter introducing the concept of political gardening. It begins by situating the re-evaluation of "everyday space" within neoliberal processes of privatization, devolution and entrepreneurialism, then connects the rise of academic interest in urban gardening with the movement's political dimension. Drawing on Rawls' theory of social justice, it conflates political gardening with injustice, uses case studies to unpack that process of addressing injustice across six iterative stages, and arrives at a definition of political gardening as both a term and a process through which participants become "democratized" citizens.

Michael Martin, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Sweden

This study assessed the environmental impacts of urban vertical hydroponic farming through a life-cycle perspective, applied to a case-study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing current performance with potential improvement scenarios. Results showed that growing medium, pots, electricity demand, and transportation of raw materials and product deliveries were the important contributors to environmental impact in this system. Replacing plastic pots with paper pots was found capable of producing large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion, and replacing conventional gardening soil with coir as the growing medium also led to large impact reductions. However, the study states that further reducing the system's impacts will require more resource-efficient steps specifically to address impacts from electricity demand, an issue not resolved by the pot and growing-medium substitutions, and identifies potential for more symbiotic exchanges using urban wastes and by-products.

Mary Anne Martin · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada

This article revisits a case study of Durham Integrated Growers (DIG), an umbrella organization supporting urban agriculture in Durham Region, Ontario, Canada, through feminist theoretical framings of knowledge, work, power, care, and community. It states that community-based food initiatives, which strive to provide alternatives to dominant food production practices, are often constrained by limited access to financial, labour, time, and political resources, and notes that the feminization of urban agriculture initiatives in Canada -- despite parallels to what has traditionally been dubbed "women's work" -- has received little attention in the academic literature. Prior research on DIG revealed themes involving the need for community expertise to be recognized, the role of public policy, the effects of relying on unpaid labour, and the centrality of building community.

Michelle Tendai. Chihambakwe, Paramu Mafongoya, Obert Jiri · Challenges · Zimbabwe

This review maps the use of food sovereignty principles in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Zimbabwe, addressing its potential for food security. Despite UPA being ingrained in urban households' livelihoods, institutional arrangements governing the practice remain ambivalent. The review underscores that the failure to involve all stakeholders undermines UPA, leading to heightened food insecurity and unsustainable practices.

Nathan McClintock, Christiana Miewald, Eugene McCann · · North America

This chapter explores urban agriculture (UA) as fundamentally political practices, examining its role in neoliberal governance and sustainability policy-making, and as an object of contestation. It relates UA motivations and practices to processes of urbanization and political economic restructuring. The chapter highlights that UA is a site of political contestation, arising from broader political economic shifts.

Kimisato Oda, Christoph Rupprecht, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Steven R. McGreevy · Sustainability · Japan (Kyoto)

A study in Kyoto City, Japan, examined agricultural land use from 2007–2017 to assess urban agriculture as a sustainability strategy for shrinking cities. Analysis revealed a 10% decline (209 ha) in agricultural land use over ten years, with main post-agricultural uses being residential (40%) and vacant land (28%). The findings indicate that Kyoto City is not currently positioned to benefit from population decline through localized food production.

Fabrice Dossa · Agricultural Research & Technology Open Access Journal · Benin

A study in southern Benin surveyed 60 onion farmers across three municipalities (Grand-Popo, Cotonou, Sm-Kpodji) using quantitative and qualitative methods. It found onion production to be financially profitable, with performance enhanced by age, experience, and producer group membership, and improving socio-economic and food situations. However, significant constraints include financial, institutional, organizational, property, and production-related issues.

Camille Frazier · Journal of Political Ecology · India (Bengaluru)

This article examines the motivations and practices of organic terrace gardeners (OTGians) in Bengaluru, India, who grow food in private spaces. While OTGians successfully create a vibrant community driven by food safety and environmental concerns, their efforts are limited to the middle class due to class-specific concerns and production practices. The study highlights that urban gardening in this context remains an intervention primarily for the middle class.

Khadija Benis, Rukaia Gashgari, Adnan Alsaati, Christoph Reinhart · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)

The Urban Foodprints (UF) methodology was applied to assess the environmental sustainability of high-yield urban agriculture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focusing on tomatoes. While urban production in high-yield greenhouses could reduce Global Warming Potential by 9% and water savings were significant, the energy needs of these greenhouses were considerably higher than the baseline. This indicates a trade-off where environmental benefits are partially offset by increased energy consumption.

Gabrielle Roesch‐McNally, Jacqueline Ann Nester, Andrea Basche, Eric Christianson, Emily Zimmerman · Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · United States (Iowa)

Story County, Iowa, despite being in a highly agriculturally productive state, faces significant food insecurity. In 2014, 15.2% of its residents (nearly 14,000 individuals) were food insecure, with 45% of them not qualifying for government assistance. The county dedicates only 2.4 acres of cropland per thousand residents to fruit, vegetable, and nut production, significantly lower than the US average of 32 acres, highlighting a paradox of hunger amidst agricultural abundance.

Percy Toriro · · Zimbabwe (Harare)

This chapter explores the governance of urban food production in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 1890 to the present. Evidence indicates that while the practice has gained general acceptance through shifting positions over the years, the status of producers remains uncertain. This uncertainty stems from the lack of full incorporation of urban food production into city plans by planning officials, whose values are out of sync with Harare's lived reality.

Shannon Donovan · Case Studies in the Environment · United States (Anchorage)

A multi-faceted needs assessment, including a community survey, stakeholder workshop, and key informant interviews, was conducted in Anchorage, Alaska, to explore the strategic expansion of its community garden system. The study found that demand for community gardens far outweighs supply. To sustainably meet diverse needs, expansion efforts should focus on accessible locations, gardener capacity building, and strengthening partnerships.

Daniela Adil Oliveira de Almeida, Gabriel Mattos Ornelas, Melissa Luciana de Araújo, Luisa Melgaço Ferreira Jorge Marques, Camila Marina Teixeira Ferreira, Victor Gabriel de Souza Lima, Patricia Cristina Coutinho Nardini, Rodrigo Pinto da Matta Machado, Heloísa Soares de Moura Costa · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Brazil

The process of systematizing the experience of AUÊ!, the Urban Agriculture Study Group at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, helped to record and critically reflect on the group's trajectory. This systematization made it possible to identify the qualities, potentialities, and gaps in the group's performance.

Mitch Rose · Antipode · United States (Detroit)

This paper discusses the Detroit urban farming movement, conceptualizing the economy as an over-productive and wasteful system of energy exchange. It argues that the inefficient, redundant, and wasteful nature of urban farming in Detroit is an appropriation of potentialities within the general economy. The study highlights that diversity is not a result of positive relations but emerges from the prolific nature of the general economy.

Solomon Tulu Tadesse, O. Oenema, Christy van Beek, Fikre Lemessa Ocho · Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems · Ethiopia

This study investigated the diversity and nutrient balances of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) systems in three Ethiopian cities, using data from 425 households (Addis Ababa: 175, Adama: 126, Jimma: 124). It identified six farm types, including commercial livestock (cLS) and subsistence field crop (sFC) systems. The study found that cLS systems accumulated significant nutrients (450 kg N, 85 kg P, 260 kg K ha−1 year−1) with low use efficiency (26% N and P, 15% K), while sFC systems depleted nutrients (−30 kg N, −17 kg K ha−1 year−1) with high use efficiency.

Natalia Matesanz Ventura · · United States (New York City)

This article examines over fifty self-managed community gardens in Loisaida, New York, which form an informal network combining "affection" and "dissidence" to create "affect-dent" spaces. These gardens, established since the 1960s, reconfigure public space by opposing administration, the real-estate market, media invasion, and the appropriation of public space by the private sector. The study highlights how these spaces challenge dominant power structures and serve as a reference in contemporary architecture of the common.

Károly Kacz, Ádám Varga · Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural and Agribusiness Economists · Europe

A survey in the Western Transdanubia region investigated major problems in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) within short food supply chains, involving farmer organizations and consumers. The analysis identified the insufficient market power of CSA organizations as the most influential factor. This finding suggests a significant constraint on the effectiveness of CSA models in the region.

Rodrigo Clemente GOIS, Flamarion Dutra Alves, Evânio dos Santos Branquinho · Geografia (Rio Claro) · Brazil (Alfenas)

This article aims to characterize urban and peri-urban agricultural activities in Alfenas, Brazil, and analyze the encroachment of real estate speculation on these properties. It notes that Alfenas has seen an increase in residential developments occupying areas previously used for livestock and agriculture. The study suggests organic farming as a viable alternative to mitigate socio-environmental problems arising from this encroachment.