Research & reports

Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.

2 results

• Small-scale urban agriculture results in high yields but requires judicious management of inputs to achieve sustainability

  2018

  Robert McDougall, Paul Kristiansen, Romina Rader · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · Australia

  This study evaluated small-scale urban agriculture systems in Australia using economic and emergy (embodied energy) analyses. While these systems used land efficiently, they were relatively inefficient in their use of material and labor resources. Benefit-to-cost ratios demonstrated that, on average, the gardens ran at a financial loss, and emergy transformity was one to three orders of magnitude greater than many conventional rural farms. Only 14.66% of all inputs were considered "renewable," resulting in a moderate mean environmental loading ratio (ELR) of 5.82.

  Economic viabilityEconomicsClimate changeOrganic cycle
  Read source →DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1809707115

• Interaction Mechanism Between Sustainable Development of Urban Agriculture and Increase of Peasants' Income

  2008

  Wei Xu · Chinese Journal of Population Resources and Environment · Global

  This study examines the interaction between the sustainable development of urban agriculture and the increase in peasants' income, treating them as a combined system. It identifies a synergistic relationship between increased peasant income and urban agriculture development, but also a competitive relationship between maximizing short-term income and ecological sustainable development. The research suggests that a sustainable urban agricultural resource allocation mechanism can foster coordination and positive interaction, with urban circular agriculture economy being a basic strategy for this coordination.

  Economic viabilityEconomicsOrganic cyclePolicyUrban–rural linkage
  Read source →