Research & reports

Zogo Ndomo, Yannick Emmanuel · Bulletin of animal health and production in Africa · Global

Urban agriculture in developing countries is a vital asset in the livelihood strategies of urban households, having expanded rapidly over the last two decades and contributing to income generation for unqualified workforces. However, the illegal status of urban agriculture has created a governance vacuum, necessitating policy formulation and institutionalized management to secure land for the urban poor and improve food security and the environment. Political leaders have a role in regulating this sector.

Rachel Surls, Gail Feenstra, Sheila Golden, Ryan E. Galt, Shermain Hardesty, Claire Napawan, Cheryl Wilen · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (California)

Urban agriculture (UA) in California has been slower to gain momentum compared to other urban states, partly due to limited availability of relevant information and technical assistance for urban farmers and municipal decision-makers. A University of California Cooperative Extension project is developing web-based educational resources based on a needs assessment, which includes a literature review, an internal survey of personnel, and community interviews. Preliminary findings indicate challenges in supporting urban farming due to resource constraints and information gaps.

Chen Ao Nan · 农民致富之友 · China (Wudang District)

A field survey conducted on agricultural parks in Wudang District, Guizhou Province, China, studied the development status, progress, and existing problems of the Wudang District Cherry Modern High-Efficiency Agricultural Demonstration Park. The findings indicated that while the park's construction progressed rapidly and orderly with some innovations in its operating mechanism, it also faced many problems and difficulties.

H.W. Kamwele, George Mark Onyango, George G. Wagah, Maria Nyström · Chalmers Publication Library (Chalmers University of Technology) · Kenya

This paper examines the legal and policy framework affecting urban agriculture development in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya, through a case study involving interviews with government officials and review of various acts and bylaws. It found that while national legislation allows for urban agriculture, there is no specific policy for it, and Eldoret Municipality tolerates the practice despite its illegality. The study concludes that the awareness of urban farming's importance has not translated into formal recognition in bylaws and ordinances.

Ophélie Robineau, Julia Tichit, Thomas Maillard · Espaces et sociétés · Global

This study examines the socio-spatial integration of urban agriculture in three Southern cities, despite its limited consideration in urban planning policies. In Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), farmers secure access to productive resources through social relations. In Metro Manila (Philippines), local actor networks ensure the sustainability of practices. In Saint-Louis (Senegal), farmers' self-initiated organizations enable them to assert their interests with urban authorities, highlighting the challenge of urban agriculture not being adequately integrated into planning policies.

Tim Cashion, I. Forbes, Irena Knežević · · Canada

This preliminary study in Nova Scotia, Canada, explored the initiation and sustainability of community food initiatives through in-depth interviews with coordinators. The research identified that these initiatives are in a precarious state due to reliance on volunteers, land ownership issues, and a lack of consistent funding. Despite these challenges, they persist through community support and coordinator dedication.

Luke Drake · Urban Geography · Global

This study analyzed six case studies of community gardens, categorized by grassroots, externally-organized, and active nonprofit management, to examine how "community" definitions influence participation or resistance in urban food production. The analysis highlights specific organizational and management moments that affect engagement, scrutinizing community gardens as sites of governmentality that produce neoliberal subjects.

Jiang Lu · Nongye jingji yu guanli · China (Beijing)

This study analyzed the current state of urban agriculture development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, focusing on aspects like leading industry and farmers' income. It found that while the urban agriculture layout was basically formed, significant problems exist. These include resource and environmental crises, a lack of integrated regional planning, imperfect municipal systems, and challenges in upgrading the agricultural industry.

Mark Matsa, Beauty Dzawanda · · Zimbabwe

This study assessed the performance of Caritas-initiated and sponsored community gardens in Chaka ward, Chirumanzu District, Zimbabwe, during and after the sponsors' regime. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, and direct observations, and analyzed with descriptive statistics and content analysis. Results showed that the gardens flourished during Caritas's presence but quickly shrank and folded after the NGO's departure, indicating a lack of sustainability.

Shi Jia-li · · China (Tianjin)

This paper studies the important roles of leisure agriculture in the development of Tianjin's modern urban agriculture. It emphatically analyzes the major problems of science and technology during the promotion of leisure agriculture and puts forward the significances of science and technology support in leisure agriculture.

Dehui Wu, WU, Dehui · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · China

This 2014 study analyzed urban agriculture development in China's Central Economic Zone, identifying several existing problems. These issues included understanding deviation, extensive development, market confusion, short industrial chains, low specialization, and a harsh environment. The study proposed countermeasures such as strengthening government macro-control and perfecting compensation mechanisms.

Nicole C. List · EchoGéo · Senegal (Pikine)

Based on fieldwork in Pikine, a rapidly urbanized city in Senegal's Dakar region, two interconnected conflict cases concerning the development of urban agricultural land for middle-class and elite housing were analyzed. The analysis indicates that public and private actors, including producers, traditional authorities, real estate developers, and local/central government officials, are abandoning old forms of governance in favor of "territorial alliances" to promote their own urban development projects. These alliances lead to new relationships between local/central government members and civil society, impacting urban Senegal's land registry, property rights, and public infrastructure.

Benjamin Drury, Renee Laliberte, Jared Watson, Connor Wilgress · Digital WPI · United States (Worcester)

The city of Worcester, MA, faces health issues due to economic instability and low access to affordable healthy food. While urban farming has the potential to address these problems, the city lacks an effective policy.

Tian Lib · Chinese Journal of Tropical Agriculture · China (Hainan)

This paper summarized the status of protected horticulture in Hainan, China, identifying major problems such as a deficiency of special varieties, unsuitable introduced facility types, lack of a non-nuisance production system, and insufficient capacity for resisting natural disasters and environmental control. To achieve sustainable development, the local government needs to strengthen funding and policy support, enhance farmers' awareness of pollution-free production, and improve management techniques.

Matilda Thelin · · Sweden

This qualitative study in peri-urban Uppsala, Sweden, identifies driving forces influencing land use decisions by commercial farmers and institutional landowners. It notes that approximately 700 hectares of land in Sweden are diverted from food production annually, with Uppsala Municipality showing the greatest change in 2013. The expropriation of agricultural land for urban development leads to farmers losing land resources and increased competition for remaining land, resulting in high land prices.

Da Wang · · China (Beijing)

This study evaluates and analyzes urban agriculture in Beijing by focusing on the relationships among its subsystems and their relative influence. Results show that the comprehensive evaluation index of urban agriculture has risen steadily with a positive trend, but that the comparative advantages of both the population subsystem and the social subsystem have weakened, due to the loss of agricultural labor force and the urban-rural income gap. Meanwhile, the function of the environment and resource subsystems has strengthened, promoting a shift in Beijing's urban agricultural mode from one led by the economic subsystem toward one led jointly by the environment and economic subsystems. Given increasing pressure on environment and resources, the study concludes Beijing needs to build an ecological urban agriculture system and move away from an industrial development approach.

Lijie He · · China

This article analyzes the current situation and problems of urban agricultural development in small towns of China. It identifies severe problems hindering progress, including decreasing agricultural land, severe waste of land resources, serious agricultural pollution, low quality and income of agricultural labor, limited transport capacity, insufficient funding, and a lack of related policies and regulations.

N E Etim, J J Dukiya · International Journal of Advanced Remote Sensing and GIS · Nigeria (Abuja)

A study in the Kuje area council of Abuja, Nigeria, used questionnaires and multi-temporal satellite images from 1975–2010 to assess urban encroachment on agricultural lands. It found that urban encroachment into agricultural lands is occurring at an alarming rate of 15.7 km² annually, resulting in a total loss of 509 km² of agricultural land to urbanization over 35 years.

A. Bryan Endres, Rachel Armstrong · · United States

This article discusses Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and 'community labor,' where customers participate in food production on farms. It highlights a paradox: traditional employment law, envisioning autonomous competition, makes little room for these novel relationships, potentially undermining CSA values and limiting its viability and growth. The authors suggest that employment law should develop a more nuanced view of relationships in the CSA context, supporting mutual gain and shared values over competition-based rules.

Priyanie Amerasinghe, R. M. Bhardwaj, Christopher A. Scott, Kiran Jella · · India

This study analyzed the current status of wastewater generation, its uses, and livelihood benefits, particularly in agriculture, in India. It was based on national data and case studies from Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur, and Kolkata. A lack of systematic data collection by municipalities makes it difficult to accurately assess wastewater generation or estimate the total urban area under wastewater irrigation.

Camilo Villagrán Oyarzún, Ken Yan Qiu Sun · Revista de Urbanismo · Chile (Santiago de Chile)

This 2013 study investigated the challenges of integrating urban agriculture into Communal Regulatory Plans in Santiago de Chile. Analyzing two case studies in different metropolitan communes, the research inferred the general state of urban agriculture's inclusion in urban planning. The findings implicitly suggest difficulties in its integration, highlighting the need for improved governance in urban planning to effectively incorporate urban agriculture.

Teferi Daba Lemma, M. S. A. Rao, M Prasada Rao · Zenith international journal of business economics and management research · Ethiopia

This study assessed the economic sustainability of urban agriculture in central Ethiopia, collecting primary data from 280 urban and peri-urban vegetable farmers. Findings indicated that urban agriculture is a viable livelihood strategy from a financial perspective. However, city administrations and policymakers pay little attention to supporting this sub-sector, suggesting that legal recognition and support would make it a more reliable strategy.

Amanda Jessie Weaver · Digital Commons - DU (University of Denver) · United States (Colorado)

This project combined U.S. Agricultural Census data with a survey of local producers in Colorado's Front Range Urban Corridor to examine the competition between urban development and food production. The study found that urban development is increasingly encroaching on rich agricultural lands, which are also desirable for housing. Consequently, Colorado faces increasing competition for land, potentially driving local food prices up and displacing producers to peripheral areas or out of food production entirely.

A. Bryan Endres, Rachel Armstrong · Food Studies An Interdisciplinary Journal · United States

A legal analysis (Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2013) of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the United States—where CSA participation more than doubled between 2004 and 2009—examines "volunteer-for-food" arrangements and unpaid internships that many CSA farms offer in exchange for labor. It finds that these arrangements do not align cleanly with federal and state employment laws governing minimum wage and workers' compensation, creating a mismatch between the community-participation model embedded in CSAs and the legal regimes that govern them. The paper identifies potential points of flexibility within existing law, explores mechanisms for farmers to avoid regulatory liability, and concludes with policy recommendations to eliminate regulations it characterizes as scale-inappropriate for CSA expansion.

Community Gardening Works! ACGA 2011 Conference, Carolin Mees, Edie Stone · Cities and the Environment · United States

This abstract discusses the rapid expansion of the community gardening movement in US urban areas. It highlights the potential for urban agriculture planning to turn against its original community-driven roots, as suggested by the title. The movement began over 30 years ago, with residents creating gardens on abandoned land, supported by programs like New York City's GreenThumb.