Research & reports

Sonia Gatchair · · Jamaica (Kingston)

In Kingston, Jamaica's largest urban space, systematic efforts to stimulate the adoption of commercially viable urban agriculture have lagged. This study examines the facilitators and impediments to commercially viable urban agriculture, arguing that knowledge transfer and the adoption of innovative, technology-driven approaches to farming, financing, and marketing are needed for success.

Adi Nugraha, Raphaël Paut, Ari Ganjar Herdiansah, Susanti Withaningsih, Parikesit Parikesit, Oekan S. Abdoellah · Cogent Food & Agriculture · Indonesia (Bandung)

This study examined the social and economic feasibility of urban farming in Bandung, Indonesia, from the viewpoint of actors, using observations, semi-structured, and in-depth interviews with key informants including urban farmers, community leaders, traders, and government representatives. The findings indicated that urban farming in Bandung is not economically motivated because the practices are not economically profitable for the actors. Instead, social factors such as social collectivity and personal aspirations were found to have propelled the continuity of the urban farming movement.

Dilla Aldilla, Andi Nuddin, Yusriadi, Suherman · Open MIND · Indonesia

This 2024 research focused on developing Women Farmer Groups (KWT) through the Sustainable Food Farms (P2L) program in Parepare City, Indonesia. An analysis identified weaknesses including a lack of fulfillment of market demands and internal group conflicts. Strategies proposed included selecting short-harvest crops, forming partnerships, and increasing group awareness of program outcomes to address these challenges.

Dr.M.K. Ganesh · International Journal for Multidimensional Research Perspectives · Global

This mixed-methods study examined the farm-to-table movement in restaurant food production, identifying benefits like enhanced food freshness and local economic support. However, it also found significant challenges including higher costs, seasonal variability, and complex supply chain logistics. Consumer perceptions were generally positive, but the study emphasized the need for increased consumer education and policy support to overcome barriers.

Kelvin Haule, Bupe Kabigi · Ghana Journal of Geography · Tanzania

This study analyzed land markets and their influence on peri-urban agriculture and livelihood strategies in Tanzania. It found that widespread monetary land markets, including formal, informal, speculative, entrepreneurial, and land grabbing forms, are transforming peri-urban agriculture into non-farm activities. These informal changes are causing a “sendoff” of peri-urban agriculture, and if unmanaged, land markets are suggested to become a blight for indigenous people selling land.

Anna M. Roodhof · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Netherlands

To map and analyze food forestry (FF) in the Netherlands, a survey of 109 participants and interviews with five experts were conducted, identifying 231 food forests established since 2017. The survey data indicates that while FF initiatives are diverse in goals, few focus on profitability. Practitioners are largely homogeneous, consisting of university-educated individuals aged 40 to 60.

Meiling Wu · Sustainability · China

A study of a Sharing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in China examined, through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, how external investment drives the conventionalization of alternative agriculture. The farm's low economic sustainability was the trigger that drew in external investment; investors then compelled the farm manager to relax adherence to organic agriculture's ecological values and principles and shift toward specialized, intensive farming to secure profitability, and a new business model was adopted that further entrenched this conventionalization.

Shu Hua Teoh, Gwo Rong Wong, Purabi Mazumdar · Innovations in Agriculture · Global

A review combining scientific literature analysis and interviews with urban farmers examined urban farming models including community, indoor, rooftop and vertical farms using techniques such as aeroponics, hydroponics and aquaponics. It found that sustainability and yield remain major challenges to fully realizing urban farming's potential, identifying limited land and water resources, pest and disease incidence, financial constraints on setup and maintenance, knowledge and skill gaps among participants, and a lack of effective collaboration between universities, government and industry as the key barriers.

Ziyi Liu, Nicola Dempsey, Eckart Lange · ˜The œurban book series · China (Pearl River Delta)

This chapter investigates Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the Pearl River Delta, China, aiming to understand its role in the local food system and in reducing food safety concerns. It notes a limited understanding of barriers to promoting and developing CSA, and little published evidence on public attitudes or their influence on CSA demand and development in the region. The study identifies current socio-economic and environmental catalysts and barriers for CSA farming.

Catharina Any Sulistyowati, Suraya Afiff, Muhammad Baiquni, Mia Siscawati · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Global

A literature study conducted from October 2021 to June 2022 identified challenges in the development of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Farmers face expenses for sustainable practices and labor shortages, while CSA members encounter issues with time commitment, cost, and adapting food consumption habits. Organizational challenges include member recruitment and retention, competition, and CSA sustainability.

Diana Hertati · MIMBAR Jurnal Sosial dan Pembangunan · Indonesia

This study investigated the development of urban farming as a strategy to support food security in Indonesia using descriptive and qualitative methods. While the community understands urban farming (P2L), inhibiting factors include perpetrators' lack of technical understanding, insufficient capital, and extreme weather. Local government strongly supports food security policies through urban farming.

Charles Achcar Chelala, Cláudia Maria do Socôrro Cruz Fernandes Chelala · DELOS Desarrollo Local Sostenible · Brazil

This article analyzes the urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Macapá, Amapá, Brazil, focusing on existing commercialization channels to identify the relationship between urban food production and city supply. The study aimed to pinpoint difficulties, limitations, and expansion capacity of UPA. It concludes that despite a diversity of accessible channels for UPA, short commercialization channels like direct sales and open-air markets remain the primary outlets for production, indicating challenges in expanding commercialization beyond these traditional methods.

P. Post, H. Hengsdijk · · Global

This study inventoried and characterized food production systems in Rincon, Bonaire, combining literature review and online key-informant interviews with biophysical analysis and calculations of land and water requirements for several production scales, and applying a SWOT analysis to multiple production systems. It found that increasing year-round fruit and vegetable production in Rincon, and Bonaire more broadly, is challenging and may not be feasible without support, given limited and irregular water availability, an unsupportive business environment, and harsh conditions from pests, diseases, and weather; without sufficient support to expand water availability, local agricultural knowledge, and a suitable business environment, neither capital-intensive nor small-scale crop production is likely to improve the availability of healthy food or employment opportunities.

Grace Ning Yuan, Gian Powell B. Marquez, Haoran Deng, Anastasiia Iu, Melisa Fabella, Reginald B. Salonga, Fitrio Ashardiono, Joyce A. Cartagena · Heliyon · Global

This review examined urban agriculture (UA) across technology, socio-economy, and policy, noting that supporting UA expansion in cities is challenging due to its poor economic profitability. The study highlighted UA's value beyond profitability, including social, health and well-being, disaster risk reduction, and environmental benefits. It also presented advancements in UA technologies and plant biotechnology as potential solutions for increasing the future profitability of commercial UA.

Catherine Campbell, Jorge Ruiz‐Menjivar, Alia DeLong · HortTechnology · United States (Florida)

This research characterized commercial urban agriculture (CUA) operations in Florida, United States, and explored urban farmers' perceptions of needs, barriers, and opportunities for CUA development. A cluster analysis identified three distinct groups of urban farmers with differing perceptions of barriers, opportunities, and informational needs. The study notes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture does not report data on CUA operations, limiting knowledge about their status, including barriers to business operations and profitability.

Yiming Shao, Zhugen Wang, Zhiwei Zhou, Haojing Chen, Yuanlong Cui, Zhenghuan Zhou · Sustainability · Global

Vertical farming faces challenges such as high energy consumption, costs, and a lack of social acceptance. This study investigated public acceptance of micro-vertical farming using a deconstructed theory of planned behavior model. Results showed that the overall mean of public behavioral intentions to use vertical farming was 3.9, which is above neutral (3.00) but less than positive (4.00).

Gemechu Abdissa, Abebe Ayalew, Anna Dunay, Csaba Bálint Illés · Economies · Ethiopia

This study investigated the determinants of sustainable growth for SMEs, including those in urban agriculture, in Ethiopia using primary data from 194 employees. Findings indicate that political instability, corruption, and COVID-19 are significantly harming the growth and long-term sustainability of Ethiopian SMEs.

Catherine Campbell, Alia DeLong, John Diaz · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Florida)

This qualitative needs assessment, based on semi-structured interviews with 29 commercial urban agriculture (CUA) producers in Florida, characterized CUA operations. The study identified that CUA operations face common small farm barriers, alongside additional challenges from local government regulations and tensions with non-traditional agricultural land use. Despite these difficulties, CUA operators perceive their urban location as a key benefit and see opportunities for future business and market expansion.

Helen Toxopeus, Friedemann Polzin · Journal of Environmental Management · Global

A systematic review of academic literature identified key barriers and strategies for financing urban nature-based solutions (NBS), including urban agriculture. Two overarching barriers were found: a lack of coordination between private and public financiers, and difficulties in integrating NBS benefits into valuation and accounting methods. The review concluded that an integrated accounting and valuation framework for NBS is currently lacking, and strategies often focus on encouraging co-financing from private beneficiaries.

Ambrogio Zanzi, Valentina Vaglia, Roberto Spigarolo, Stefano Bocchi · Land · Italy (Milan)

This study assessed the sustainability of eight agri-food start-ups in a peri-urban area of Milan, Italy, using the FAO's Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems (SAFA) framework. The application of SAFA indicators revealed positive aspects but also some limitations typical of unstructured enterprises.

Harniati Harniati, Reni Suryanti · Jurnal Penyuluhan Pertanian · Indonesia

This study investigated urban farmers' accessibility to agroinputs in intra-urban (Situ Gede, Margajaya) and peri-urban (Pasir Buncir, Pasir Eurih of Tamansari) areas in Indonesia. The findings revealed that land, labor, feed concentrate, fertilizer, and seeds are difficult for farmers to access. Specifically, peri-urban paddy land ownership is less than 0.2 Ha, intra-urban farmers are landless, outside labor is limited and expensive, and feed concentrate for sheep is rarely available and unaffordable. These limited accessibilities present problems and challenges for urban agribusiness development.

Jessica Cuevas-Castilleja, Armando Martínez-Luz, Marcelo Adán López-Arzate, Itzel Arlette Ramírez-García, Gustavo Mora‐Aguilera, Norma Ávila-Alistac · Revista mexicana de fitopatología(en línea)/Revista mexicana de fitopatología · Mexico (Mexico City)

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on productive activities and the level of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) application among 108 urban agriculture farmers and extensionists in six areas of Mexico City. A digital survey in 2020 revealed that the sanitary emergency reduced extension services, though they continued with digital technologies. During the peak of COVID-19, 14% of farmers declined to sow the summer-fall season, and up to 75% reported 20% losses due to the epidemic. The main pest control strategies were mechanical (67%) and chemical (52%), indicating an intuitive understanding of IPM benefits despite farmers being unaware of its principles.

Ana Mélice Dias, Teresa Marat-Mendes · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Portugal (Lisbon)

This paper investigated the impact of municipal planning instruments on urban agriculture in Lisbon and its surrounding territory, Portugal. It concluded that current planning regulations in Lisbon’s Greater Area are specifically focused on morphological solutions that give preference to urban agriculture uses related to leisure and aesthetic solutions, to the detriment of design solutions that tackle economic growth or ecological diversity.

Audrey Chia, Junyu Ong, Anjali Bundele, Yee Wei Lim · Obesity Reviews · South Korea

A scoping review of social ventures in obesity prevention identified 512 social ventures across 32 countries, with 93% originating from developed countries, including urban farming among their intervention areas. Social ventures developed diverse business models with multiple revenue streams, offering financially self-sufficient approaches. However, the review did not provide detailed data on specific successful cases or the scale of economic viability for these ventures.

Michael Rudolph, Madimetja Antony Mello, Evans Muchesa · Journal of food security · South Africa (Johannesburg)

This study aimed to develop a sustainable social entrepreneurship model for urban farming initiatives in Johannesburg. Through a literature review and qualitative interviews with experts, findings highlighted several important challenges that limited urban smallholder farmers' ability to ensure the financial viability and sustainability of their farming initiatives. These challenges included limited accessibility to farming land, markets, funding, and knowledge regarding setting up and managing small agri-businesses.