Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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ENTRE O DISCURSO E A PRÁTICA
2026Alan da Silva Vinhaes, Tamires Regina Rocha · Revista Tocantinense de Geografia · Brazil (Jundiaí)
This article analyzes the Urban Garden Program in Jundiaí, Brazil, to understand the contradictions between institutional discourse, normative framework, and observed territorial practice. Despite a favorable legal framework, the program's effectiveness is limited by low territorial coverage, a reduced number of active gardens, and reliance on punctual initiatives. The study concludes that long-term public policies with continuous institutional support are needed for urban agriculture to become a permanent component of urban planning.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyCommunityDESAFIOS E POTENCIALIDADES DA AGRICULTURA URBANA PARA A SEGURANÇA ALIMENTAR NA RMB
2026Maria de Nazareth Oliveira Maciel, Daniel Pereira Pinheiro, Luann Yago Oliveira Maciel · Veredas do Direito Direito Ambiental e Desenvolvimento Sustentável · Brazil
This study analyzed the contributions and challenges of urban agriculture for food security in three municipalities of the Belém Metropolitan Region, Brazil. Using multivariate factor analysis with 120 producers from November 2023 to February 2024, findings indicated urban agriculture ensures food security and reduces food scarcity concerns. However, the activity lacks public policy incentives for seed acquisition and land titling, hindering its advancement.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsWelfareClimate changeBraiding Food Systems Co-constructing Indigenous Seed Systems in Northern Ontario for Food Sovereignty, Security, and Climate Adaptation
2026Charlotte Potter, Silvia Sarapura, Camilo Jimenez Gonzalez, Justina Walker-Mohamed, Paul Benalcazer, Biinjitiwaabik Zaagging Anishinaabek, Netmizaaggamig Nishnabeg, Red Rock Indian Band · Rural Review Ontario Rural Planning Development and Policy · Canada (Northern Ontario)
The 'Braiding Food Systems' project, a community-led partnership with three Northern Ontario First Nations, used mixed-methods Participatory Action Research to examine conditions influencing food security and sovereignty. Community members identified structural constraints rooted in colonial governance, contemporary ecological pressures, and local transformation opportunities. This research demonstrates that sustained, community-led collaboration can counterbalance colonial food systems by reorganizing decisions, strengthening access, and enhancing resilience within Indigenous food networks.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyMapeamento de legislações de Agricultura Urbana e Periurbana no Brasil
2026Elisa Carvalho Lauer, Jaqueline Lima Liskoski, Kelliane Da Consolação Fuscaldi · Revista Campo-Território · Brazil
This study mapped and analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUP) legislation across municipal, state, and federal levels in Brazil, identifying 217 municipal laws in 113 municipalities, 33 state laws, and federal frameworks. The research systematized normative content into twelve thematic categories, showing AUP's integration into food security, urban sustainability, and income generation agendas. While a qualitatively consistent normative basis exists, gaps persist regarding conceptual definition, area guarantees, water access, financing, and credit. It is necessary to expand and harmonize regulations across all three spheres to consolidate AUP as a structural strategy for sustainable cities.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsBelo Horizonte’s Right-to-Food Model
2026Hoyoon Jung · The International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic Social and Cultural Context · Brazil (Belo Horizonte)
This study analyzes Belo Horizonte, Brazil's right-to-food model, which has reduced hunger and promoted social equity through integrated food policies like subsidized food programs and urban agriculture. Despite its successes, the model faces challenges in policy sustainability, financial constraints, and political continuity, and the study notes limitations including reliance on secondary data.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justicePolicyHealthEconomicsThe spaces in between: an actor network analysis of alternative food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean
2025Gonzalo Lizarralde, Sara Latorre, Neidy Clavijo, Benjamín Herazo, Manuel Pérez, Kevin Gould, Myriam Paredes, Elsa Monsalve, Nicolás Ordoñez, Roberto Burdiles, Claudio Araneda, Lisa Bornstein, Ricardo Dueñez, Adriana Patricia López Valencia, Oswaldo López, Andrés Olivera, Pedro Tex Martinez, Gloria Artze · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Latin America and the Caribbean
This study investigated the emergence, legitimization, and survival of alternative food systems in low-income settlements across Latin America and the Caribbean. Researchers conducted 340 interviews and 312 questionnaires, following 18 bottom-up initiatives related to food production, distribution, transformation, and consumption in urban and peri-urban areas of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Chile. Empirical results demonstrated the inadequacy of existing regulations and policies to comprehend the dynamic resistance occurring in the "in between" spaces of both identities and urban structure.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsPolicyLeveraging community agroecological values across scales for food system transformation in Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation, Northwest Territories
2025Jennifer Temmer, Alison Blay‐Palmer, Andrew Spring · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada (Northwest Territories)
A Participatory Action Research study in Kakisa, Northwest Territories, applied the Community Agroecological Values Framework to food system planning. While the community successfully leveraged extra-regional resources by building relationships with organizations outside the territory, findings indicated that unstable relationships and conflicting perspectives regarding land use and agriculture constrained access to critical regional supports, including gardening knowledge networks, funding, and training opportunities. This study highlights the necessity of both short-term regional support and long-term local capacity building for sustainable food production.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceClimate changePolicyTransformation of Agrarian Land in the Urban Periphery: Dispossession, Legalization and Dispute in Cuautlancingo, Puebla
2025José Arturo Méndez Espinoza, Martín Neri-Suárez, Karen Italia Ruiz-López · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Mexico (Puebla)
A case study in Cuautlancingo, Puebla, Mexico, revealed an adverse context for the reproduction of peri-urban family farming. Urban expansion, neoliberal policies, and real-estate speculation have displaced traditional agricultural practices and fostered land-tenure changes. Between 2005 and 2021, over 40% of agricultural areas were lost due to industrial and housing growth. The study concludes that without effective protection and territorial planning, peri-urban agriculture in Cuautlancingo is at risk of disappearing under urban and industrial pressures, with implications for local food security.
Governance failurePeri-urban agriculturePolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceA produção de alimentos na agricultura urbana em tempos de insegurança alimentar: uma experiência com hortas no município de Palmas, Tocantins- Brasil
2025Francisco Pereira de Sousa, Clareana Maria Guimarães Franco, Cássio Bruno Sá de Souza, Débora de Paula Brito Fogaça, Marcos Paulo Parente Araújo, Maíra Santiago Pires Parente, Henrique D. Silva, Dirlley Douglas Alves de Oliveira · Caderno Pedagógico · Brazil
A qualitative and quantitative study in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, aimed to understand the interfaces of the Palmas City Hall's community garden project. Based on ethnographic research, action research, and field study, the results showed that this local practice enhances community participation in urban garden planting in northern Palmas. It aligns with Sustainable Development Goals and is a viable tool for minimizing food insecurity and hunger reduction. However, the project requires structural adjustments, promotion of public and private partnerships, and support from universities and civil society for healthy sustainability.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyAssessing the Gap Between Intention and Implementation in Seed Lending Libraries
2025Hilary Jasmin · Evidence Based Library and Information Practice · United States and Canada
This study surveyed 58 academic and public libraries in the United States and Canada regarding their seed lending programs' goals and marketing, using an online survey. While some libraries stated intentions related to food justice and activism, their marketing and programming primarily focused on neutral gardening and how-to classes. The findings reveal a gap between the initial, less neutral intentions and the more neutral, less activist programming language used for seed libraries.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceFood educationImpulsores e inhibidores de la agricultura urbana a partir de una aproximación diacrónica desde 1821 hasta 2023: el caso de Xalapa (Veracruz, México)
2025Juan Camilo Fontalvo-Buelvas, María Teresa Pulido Silva, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar, Raúl Romero Ramírez · Memorias · Mexico (Xalapa)
This diachronic study analyzed the drivers and inhibitors of urban agriculture in Xalapa, Mexico, through a historical tracing from 1821 to 2023. Drivers included rural immigration, academia, and government programs, while inhibitors were identified as diversification of trades, ejido laws, remittances, health policies, and food markets.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageUrban Gardening in Latin America and Panama: A New Strategy for Conservation
2025Belma Soto-Fernández, Lurys Bourdett-Stanziola · Asian Journal of Agricultural and Horticultural Research · Latin America
A documentary review on the importance of urban gardening in Latin America revealed that urban gardening, when approached through the lens of agrobiodiversity, has become a key strategy for safe food production and environmental sustainability. However, it was found that several Latin American countries lack clear and established laws to regulate this activity. Preliminary evidence of rotavirus was detected in fresh vegetables from an urban garden in Panama, indicating that urban gardens can become infection foci capable of causing diseases of public health and veterinary importance.
Governance failureCommunityBiodiversityFood sovereignty & justiceHealthEconomicsPolicyUneven Ground
2024Ángeles Donoso Macaya, Kendra Sullivan · · United States (New York City)
This chapter explores the experiences of co-authors in the "Archives in Common (AiC)" project, which aimed to strengthen public humanities infrastructure within and beyond CUNY’s Graduate Center. Conducted across three locations in New York City, the project highlighted institutional norms that fail to adequately support community-led research practices or acknowledge and reward diverse expertise.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Agriculture Embedded in a Food Systems Approach: The Baltimore Story
2024Sarah Buzogany, Abby Cocke, Holly Freishtat, Yeeli Mui, Mariya Strauss, Sylvia Kelly · Urban agriculture · United States (Baltimore)
Baltimore, United States, has developed urban agriculture policies over the last decade, integrating them into a food systems approach to sustainability. Policy development covered zoning, permitting, land leasing, and soil regulations. However, challenges were encountered regarding staffing, funding, resident engagement, and differing city agency priorities, especially concerning land access. The experience highlights the importance of mainstreaming food policy into urban planning.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceGreen resilience: Securing life through vegetal being
2024Delf Rothe · Political Geography · United States (New York City)
This paper critically examines the concept of "green resilience" through a case study of various green resilience projects in New York City, including survivor trees, memorial groves, and community gardens. The study argues that these spaces function as key forms of state rule and biopolitical power, identifying three tensions or contradictions of green resilience as a form of biopolitical government: visibility and invisibility, knowledge and ignorance, and control and emergence.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceA profile of urban agricultural growers, organizations, their needs, and challenges in the Northeastern United States
2024Matthew L. Richardson, John Taylor, Megan J. Thompson, Anusuya Rangarajan, Mamatha Hanumappa, Neith G. Little · PLoS ONE · United States (Northeastern United States)
This online survey of 394 urban growers, primarily in the Northeastern United States, profiled growers and assessed urban agriculture's state, identifying needs and challenges. Most growers were white (non-Hispanic), under 45, well-educated but without agriculture degrees. Urban agriculture was dominated by small non-profits and home/community gardens. A critical finding is that urban growers face diverse barriers, with the most common being land availability and long-term access in urban areas, and many reported low revenue or operating at a net loss.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceMETODOLOGIA PARA AÇÕES COMUNITÁRIAS SUSTENTÁVEIS – PRÁTICAS DE INTEGRAÇÃO DO MODELO DAS CINCO HÉLICES EM UMA HORTA COMUNITÁRIA BRASILEIRA
2024Rosângela Míriam Lemos Oliveira Mendonça, Samantha de Oliveira Nery, Ediméia Maria Ribeiro de Mello · MIX Sustentável · Brazil
This paper presents a methodology applicable to sustainable community actions, developed from seven years of experience with low-income communities in a Brazilian community garden. The methodology is based on participatory action research, systemic design, agroecology, food sovereignty, and solidarity economy principles. The study demonstrates the importance of integrated work among the elements of the quintuple helix model (society, government, industry, academia, and environment), but it does not detail specific challenges or limitations regarding governance.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfarePolicyPanorama das Leis de Agricultura Urbana no Brasil: Relações com o Planejamento Urbano
2023M. Kühn, Geisa Zanini Rorato, Bruno César Euphrasio de Mello, Carolina Cristófoli Falcão · Ambiente & sociedade · Brazil
This research surveyed federal and state urban agriculture (UA) laws in Brazil to analyze their implications for urban planning (UP). Findings indicate that despite an increase in approved laws, there is no articulated national policy, laws vaguely address UA's interfaces with UP, and they do not objectively tackle territorial challenges faced by UA.
Governance failurePolicyUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceAgroecología y construcción de ciudadanía en los huertos urbanos de la Ciudad de México
2023Nehiby Alcántara Nieves, Rosa María Larroa Torres · Iztapalapa(en línea)/Iztapalapa · Mexico (Mexico City)
This article identified agroecological practices in 10 urban gardens (hu) in Mexico City and their relationship with the construction of food citizenship. Data was collected through interviews with garden managers and users, and participant observation. The study found a tendency to prioritize responsibilities over rights within these urban gardens.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityPolicySeeds and the city: a review of municipal home food gardening programs in Canada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022Janet Music, Lisa Mullins, Sylvain Charlebois, Charlotte Large, Kydra Mayhew · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · Canada
This study compared 19 municipal urban home food gardening programs in Canada in 2020, which provided free gardening supplies and instructions. It found a complicated relationship between municipalities, gardening programs, and food security, and determined that gardening somewhat alleviated social and emotional challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, municipalities are limited in their policy capacities to adequately address food insecurity in Canada.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityHealth“Connecting With Good People and Good Plants”: Community Gardener Experiences in New York State During the COVID-19 Pandemic
2022Tomasz B. Falkowski, Bethany Jorgensen, Donald A. Rakow, Ashmita Das, Stewart A.W. Diemont, Theresa Selfa, Austin B. Arrington · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States
A study in four New York cities analyzed the benefits and challenges of community gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic through surveys and semi-structured interviews with community gardeners. Gardeners experienced benefits such as connection, mental and physical well-being, and a safe refuge, but the biggest challenge was limited socializing due to personal behavioral changes and garden rules. This research suggests that while community gardens can be resilient sites of reprieve during crises, the pandemic also exposed their vulnerabilities.
Governance failureCommunityHealthWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceA agricultura urbana e os circuitos curtos de comercialização de alimentos: estudo da Cidade de Álvares Machado - SP
2022Rosangela Hespanhol, Antônio Nivaldo Hespanhol · Revista de Tecnologia & Gestão Sustentável · Brazil
A case study of urban agriculture in Álvares Machado, Brazil, identified challenges including difficulties in accessing land and water for irrigation, the absence of official technical assistance services, and a lack of public policies at national, state, and municipal levels. Despite these difficulties, urban farmers are responsible for a significant portion of leafy greens and legumes production, establishing direct relationships between producers and consumers through markets and street stalls.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agriculture"What we raise ourselves": Growing food sovereignty in the Mississippi Delta
2022Emily A. Holmes, Mary F. Campbell, Ryan Betz · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States
This study used the concept of food sovereignty to assess the level of local control over food production, distribution, and consumption in the Mississippi Delta. Research involved site visits, participant observation, focus groups, and surveys of communities affiliated with the Delta EATS public school garden program. Findings demonstrated low levels of food sovereignty, though high levels of agency and ingenuity in accessing desired foods were observed.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationPolicyBarriers of Local Organizations for Providing Free Food Support in the Priority Neighborhood, Toronto: What We Need Further
2022Qazi Shafayetul Islam, Nasima Akter · European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety · Canada (Toronto)
This qualitative study, involving nine community organization representatives and 15 volunteers in Toronto's priority neighborhoods, identified significant barriers to providing and receiving free food support during COVID-19. Community members faced a lack of information, language barriers, social stigma, and fear of COVID-19. Organizations struggled with insufficient information on needs, limited transportation, storage space, committed volunteers, and funding, highlighting systemic and financial challenges in effective food support programs.
Governance failureWelfareCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceIdentifying Urban Agriculture Needs and Challenges for the Implementation of Green Labeling in Xochimilco, Mexico
2022Denise Arroyo-Lambaer, Luís Zambrano, Miguel Rivas, Diana Laura Vázquez-Mendoza, Fernanda Figueroa, Martha B. Puente-Uribe, Ana Cecilia Espinosa‐García, Marco A. Tapia-Palacios, Marisa Mazari-Hiríart, Daniel A. Revollo-Fernández, Alaíde Jiménez-Serna, Marco Covarrubias, Carlos Sumano · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Mexico (Mexico City)
This study investigated the needs and commercialization challenges of chinampa producers in Xochimilco, Mexico City, to assess the potential of a green label. The analysis, based on a literature review and producers' mental model analysis, found that unresolved issues like commercialization problems, consumers' unwillingness to pay fair prices, soil degradation, and poor irrigation water quality persist. These issues make it difficult for most producers to bear certification costs, indicating that implementing a green label would likely fail to deliver its intended benefits.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyClimate change