Research & reports

Silene Maciel dos Santos, Samuel Ferreira da Fonseca, Luiz Andrei Gonçalves Pereira · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Brazil (Pirapora-MG)

This study analyzed the spatial distribution of urban agricultural activities in the Sagrada Família neighborhood, Pirapora-MG, Brazil, through a literature review. It examined urban agriculture practices, their socio-economic role, and the problems and challenges faced by urban agriculture actors in the neighborhood. The study concluded that the identified issues suggest urban agriculture as an emancipatory process.

Gabriel R. Valle · Aztlán A Journal of Chicano Studies · United States

This essay explores the self-valorization of work in community gardens to advance a grounded theory of time and value, which has been lacking in Chicana/o studies. Urban community gardens are pivotal to the environmental justice movement, with Chicana/os playing a central role. The essay proposes a revolutionary logic of labor through reframing time and value, aiming to reconnect community gardeners to the means of their own production and reproduction. By creating "gardens of sabotage," communities challenge capitalism by reclaiming the value of work and confronting orthodox notions of economy, work, citizenship, community, and time.

Guo Xiao-ha · Anhui nongye kexue · Global

A discussion of the development of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in China. While CSA has advantages over traditional agricultural production and sales models, the paper identifies limitations including heavy demands on labor and material resources, higher prices for agricultural products, difficulty building trust between producers and consumers, and loss of membership.

Ricardo da Silva Claudio, Souto de Sousa J uacute nior Francisco, Ismael de Souza Francisco, da Silva Dias Nildo, Nogueira de Sousa Neto Osvaldo, Cruz Portela Jeane, Cl aacute udia Medeiros Souza Ana, Christina Nascimento Porto Vania · African Journal of Agricultural Research · Brazil

A participatory action-research project in a community garden in Bom Jesus, Campo Grande, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, tested irrigating organic vegetables (coriander, chive, tomato, rocket) with reject brine from a water desalination/treatment station. All species irrigated with the saline waste water showed yield losses of 25.30% to 26.7% compared with conventional fresh-water irrigation, though some biomass was still produced, and the project changed residents' views on disposing of and reusing the saline waste.

Duncan Hilchey · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

A study in the late 1990s investigated small-scale grower cooperatives in the northeastern United States, which had annual sales of US$5 million or less. It found many barriers to growth, including managers' difficulties in balancing diverse member interests, meeting buyer standards, and operating in a high-cost, low-price business. The Northeast Federation of Family-Farm Cooperatives (NEFFCO), a proposed support group, did not last beyond its grant period, indicating challenges in sustaining such initiatives.

Taibat Lawanson, Olabode Orelaja, Michael Simire · African Journal of Science Technology Innovation and Development · Nigeria (Lagos)

This case study investigated the effects of climate change on agricultural activities in the Igbe Farming Community, Lagos, Nigeria, by surveying 161 farmers. The study found that most migrant farmers leased plots annually or biennially and made marginal profits of $200 to $350 per farming cycle. Erratic weather patterns and aggressive urban growth were major challenges, leading 48% of respondents to engage in informal enterprises.

Julia Laidlaw, Liam Magee · Local Environment · Global

This paper explores stakeholder experiences of community-based urban aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne using a comparative case study methodology and in-depth interviews. It aims to understand the internal and external factors impacting their success or failure. The study highlights challenges in establishing these enterprises.

Song Pin · Anhui nongye kexue · Global

This paper examines the obstacles and forming factors in project financing for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), identifying problems such as imperfect investment entities, unclear financing objectives, and single investment methods and channels. Using a four-stakeholder model (project investors, national policy, CSA, and consumers), the study elaborates on the causes of these financing difficulties. It proposes solutions including strengthening CSA's brand and marketing to cultivate loyal customers, and leveraging government, financial institutions, and private capital to address financing challenges.

Evan Weissman · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (New York City)

This case study in Brooklyn, New York, used mixed qualitative research methods to investigate the political possibilities of urban agriculture for fostering food justice. Findings indicate that problematic contradictions rooted in the neoliberalization of urban agriculture limit the transformative possibilities of farming the city as currently practiced in Brooklyn. The study suggests that longstanding agrarian questions are informative for critically interrogating urban agriculture as a politicization of food.

Laura Oliven Silberfarb, Sonja Savre, Gayle Geber · Preventing Chronic Disease · United States (Hennepin County)

Hennepin County assessed the extent to which 41 cities were engaged in making policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes to increase residents' access to healthful food. Results revealed that some cities, particularly those with higher resident demand for healthful food, are making nationally recommended PSE changes, such as sponsoring farmers markets. However, cities moved more slowly to make changes in areas with perceived negative cost consequences or lesser public demand, such as parks and recreation vending.

Oliver Moore, Olive McCarthy, Noreen Byrne, Michael Ward · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Europe

This paper examines one of the earliest and most prominent community supported agriculture (CSA) initiatives in Ireland, focusing on its organizational restructuring under productivity pressure. CSA is built on sharing risk and reward, and some uncertainty is treated as acceptable, but in this case the realized risk of insufficient produce, once pushed to its limits, became in fact unacceptable to members. The process by which this member-owned and member-operated CSA critically self-assessed and restructured after this shortfall is termed "reflexive resilience" — a description of an initiative that had to acknowledge a real produce shortfall and rebuild, not merely one that anticipated shocks in the abstract.

Michela Felicetti · Advanced engineering forum · Italy

A paper examining whether the food hub concept can be applied to the Piana di Sibari area of Calabria, Italy, designated a Quality Agrifood District (DAQ) under regional law. After identifying features of the food hub concept within the area's largest cooperative, the paper argues that this arrangement represents an opportunity for small farmers to access conventional food supply chains from which they would otherwise be excluded. It frames food hubs as a hybrid of alternative and conventional food networks and, notably, as a way to address the economic viability problem faced by local food initiatives such as community-supported agriculture (CSA)—that is, the paper's premise is that CSA-type local food initiatives struggle to be economically viable on their own.

C.F.A. van Wesenbeeck, Valentijn Venus, M.A. Keyzer, B. Wesselman, D. Asare Kye · · Africa

This study examined two tomato production areas in Burkina Faso with potential for counter-seasonal production aimed at Ghanaian urban markets, identifying the main obstacles to developing a horticultural supply chain: the monopsony power of Ghanaian traders and insufficient road quality causing high mechanical-damage losses in transport. Using a spatial-temporal simulation model to assess transport effects on tomato quality, the study found refrigerated transport is not a necessary condition for successful trade, since climate conditions alone do not severely harm quality, and concluded that regional diversification of exports offers Burkina Faso producers the best opportunities for improving their position in the chain, given the persistent trader monopsony and infrastructure constraints.

Soraya Pourjavid, Hassan Sadighi, Hossein Shabanali Fami · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Iran (Tehran)

This study identified constraints affecting urban agriculture in Tehran, Iran, by surveying 320 city dwellers across 22 municipal districts. The most important constraints identified were "high start-up costs" and "lack of knowledge among managers and authorities." Factor analysis revealed seven factors explaining 67.36% of the variance, including financial-economic and technical aspects.

Catherine Closson · · Belgium (Brussels)

A study assessed the job creation potential of urban agriculture in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. Etterbeek residents are struggling to transition from theory to practice. While professional integration has not yet been achieved, the social dynamic around the vegetable gardens is proving effective.

이행우, 김용성, 이재일 · · South Korea

This study noted that vertical farms face problems with economic viability and a lack of resident awareness. It derived types of vertical farms applicable to residential spaces and inferred assessment items for a questionnaire survey to develop u-services. Based on issues from the survey, u-services needed in vertical farm buildings were proposed, including u-notification of crop conditions, remote/automatic control u-services, harvest information u-service, recipe information u-service, indoor air quality monitoring u-service, indoor environment adjusting u-service, and farm environment control u-service.

Madlyne Samak · L Homme et la société · France

A long-term study in southeastern France examined the development of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as an alternative marketing system for fruits and vegetables. The study found that the non-market dimension of CSA appears to have disappeared over time, from its initial form to current basket systems. This change is attributed to the diversification of farmers' sociological profiles and the transformation of marketing conditions for organic local products.

Martijn Koster, Pieter A. de Vries · Focaal · Brazil (Recife)

This article examined slum dwellers' politics in Recife, Brazil, as a realm of possibility where care and recognition are central. A community leader's urban agriculture project, which from an outsider's perspective might be considered non-viable, provided slum dwellers with possibilities to strive for community solidarity and personal recognition. The article concludes that slum politics is about claiming the right to be counted and recognized, and about the care for the other.

A. Yusuf · · Nigeria (Lagos State)

This study assessed the attitudes of 50 women farmers towards urban agriculture in the Somolu local government area of Lagos State, Nigeria. Findings indicated that the women's attitude towards urban agriculture was extremely negative. Statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship between attitude and age, marital status, educational level, years of experience, and access to loans. However, farm size, annual income, access to labor, and access to inputs were statistically insignificant.

Huang Xue-qun · · China (Tianjin)

This paper analyzed the development status of Tianjin urban fishery, finding it to be in an early stage. Problems identified included a low level of industrial development, an unscientific development mode, and weak innovation capability. The study proposed development paths and measures for industrial transformation and upgrading.

André Viljoen, Katrin Bohn · Architectural Design · Global

This piece by André Viljoen and Katrin Bohn of Bohn&Viljoen Architects juxtaposes the organopónicos, or market gardens, of Cuba — which proliferated after the US trade blockade of the 1990s and the resulting fuel shortages — with more recent food-production experiments in North American cities that draw on the Cuban example. The authors argue that in urban agriculture there is a direct connection between scarcity and abundance, with the threat of food shortages repeatedly acting as an effective trigger for food-growing enterprises, and that produce can be grown even with few or limited resources.

A. K. Ango, Aliyu Abdullahi, Bello Bunza Abubakar · International Research Journal of Agriculture and Soil Science · Nigeria (Birnin Kebbi)

A study in Birnin Kebbi metropolis, Nigeria, during the 2009/2010 cropping season surveyed 100 urban farmers across 10 districts. The study found that urban farmers cultivate food crops and rear animals, but identified low capital, lack of adequate funds, strict land-use regulations, and lack of agricultural inputs as major problems. Socio-economic status, family size, and education level were significantly related to participation in urban farming.

M. Tshitangoni, A. Okorie, Joseph Francis · Scientific Research and Essays · South Africa (Limpopo Province)

A study conducted in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa, assessed challenges faced by 30 poverty alleviation projects (community gardens, poultry, etc.). A survey of 108 beneficiaries identified numerous inception-based challenges, such as lack of training (90%), lack of funds (80%), and fraudulent use of funds (33%), as well as operation-based challenges like poor record keeping (70%) and unavailability of markets (60%). These challenges were found to significantly limit the performance of the poverty alleviation projects.

김태곤, 박문호, 허주녕 · 한국농촌경제연구원 기본연구보고서 · South Korea

This study aims to identify the current status and challenges of urban agriculture and propose solutions. Urban agriculture faces chronic problems including securing farming land due to rising land prices, management insecurity resulting from farmland diversion or lease, and increased production costs due to environmental regulations. These issues restrict the range of agricultural management.

Megan Sheridan · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · United States (Minneapolis)

This project aimed to facilitate the creation of a commercial urban farm in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. Goals included developing a business plan for an economically viable urban farm. The project found that economic viability without foundation grants is challenging, and site control is key.