Research & reports

Brenda B. Lin, Peter Bichier, Heidi Liere, Shalene Jha, Edith Gonzalez, Stacy M. Philpott · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States (California)

An online survey across 21 community gardens in Central California asked gardeners about their aesthetic and management preferences using paired images representing common garden styles, with open-ended explanations. For the first image pair, 85% of respondents preferred a tidy and organized image, citing easier movement, better plot access and weed control from managed pathways, a preference correlated with participation in the University of California's Master Gardener program; for the second pair, preferences were not strong and 20% of gardeners declined to choose because they valued aspects of both, food-producing crops and pollinator-supporting flowering plants.

Kelsey Ryan-Simkins · Local Environment · United States (Ohio)

This study used multilevel negative binomial regression to examine the relationship between urban agriculture site locations and sociodemographic and neighbourhood environmental characteristics at the census tract level in Ohio, USA. Findings challenge the idea that urban agriculture is placed in areas with low food access, raising questions about the food-access rhetoric used to promote urban agriculture, a movement critiqued for often being led by upper-class, urban elites, and contribute to debates about the roles of race and gentrification in urban agriculture.

Vitória Ângela Paim, Denise Wildner Theves · Quaestio revista de estudos em educação · Brazil

This paper reports on a Final Course Project (TCC) practice in which a group of early-elementary children from a school in Canoas, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, created a collective experiential map of a neighborhood community garden after visiting it. Aiming to understand how school-geography-mediated didactic proposals mobilize children's experience and authorship, the ethnographic study emphasized children's protagonism and authorship, finding that children's spatiality extends beyond the classroom, giving multiple meanings to geographic knowledge, and that the collective map-making translated their spatial experiences into their own geographic expression.

Danya Carroll, Lynn Mad Plume, Nicole Redvers · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This scoping review maps the existing literature on food access in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities in the United States onto the Social Ecological Model (SEM). A systematic search of PubMed, CINAHL, SocIndex, Academic Search Premier, ERIC and Google Scholar covered publications from 1988 to 2023, followed by deductive content analysis through the SEM lens using qualitative software; 14 articles met the inclusion criteria. Interventions most frequently targeted the "intrapersonal" and "community" SEM levels, while the "institutional" and "public policy" levels were least targeted, with intervention formats including support for community and school gardens, seed provision, traditional foods at school, family and community events, and meal provision. The review found that valuable research has been conducted on AI/AN food access interventions, many spanning multiple SEM levels, and it points to the importance of leveraging strengths such as culturally aligned programs and traditional foods, calling for further collaboration between AI/AN communities and researchers to develop more informed, multi-level interventions.

Hellen Chrystianne Lucio Barros, Danielle Fernandes de Araújo Oliveira, Iris Alves Feitoza Albuquerque · Ambiente & Educação · Brazil

A study, based on interviews with six teachers at a state school in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, that has a community school garden project among its open spaces, examining possible relationships between green environments at school and the promotion of learning, well-being, and environmental care. The analysis found that teachers perceive the school garden as a pedagogical resource that facilitates learning, promotes well-being associated with students' mental health, and allows for discussion of environmental care and healthy eating, viewing it as a potential resource for learning in the field of socio-environmental education.

Mecca Howe, Jennifer Meta Robinson · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This case study examined psychosocial impacts among 13-to-17-year-old participants in the Felege Hiywot Center's 2023 STEAM Farm Camp in an underserved urban US neighborhood with limited access to affordable, nutritious food, where teens designed and maintained garden plots, prepared shared meals, and did science projects. Using survey and facilitated-journaling data, the study found that gardening produced positive feelings and was experienced as stress relief and a source of accomplishment, that teens built friendships and mentorships, and that participation was associated with metacognitive skill development including self-awareness and reflection.

João Manoel da Silva, Maria Celia de Paula Rocha, Mariana de Aquino Freitas, Érika Sabrina Felix Azevedo, Rafael Balbino Cardoso, Vitória R. R. de A. R. Ramalho · Revista de Gestão e Secretariado (Management and Administrative Professional Review) · Brazil

This project diagnosed the socioeducational profile, prior knowledge, and training needs of residents in several municipalities of the Alagoas semi-arid region (sertão alagoano) of Brazil, using an electronic questionnaire and a quali-quantitative analysis of responses, followed by thematic training cycles on "Cultivation in Small Spaces," "What to Plant," and "Ecological Management" to spread agroecological practices in urban, peri-urban, and backyard-garden settings. Results showed most participants already had some cultivation space and strong interest in sustainable practices such as composting and organic fertilization, though some showed technical limitations; women and young people predominated among respondents, and all participants expressed interest in further training, prioritizing digital materials such as explanatory videos and educational booklets.

Eduardo Cesar Silva, Daniel Leite Mesquita, Paulo Henrique Montagnana Vicente Leme · Revista Brasileira Multidisciplinar · Brazil

Using a competitive-intelligence approach drawing on both academic and journalistic sources, this study conducted an exploratory analysis of global urban agriculture trends to identify the main technologies and models in use. It found that urban agriculture is expanding worldwide and is practiced through diverse models, notably community gardens, rooftop gardens, controlled-environment food cultivation, and cellular agriculture.

Jennifer Jettner · Journal of Social Work and Social Welfare Policy · United States

A qualitative study (Journal of Social Work and Social Welfare Policy, 2025) interviewed ten garden leaders representing nine urban and rural community gardens in Alabama, USA, analyzing themes through a racial capitalism and black geographies framework. It found that health-focused garden efforts were white-led while justice-focused efforts were BIPOC-led, and that all of the gardens struggled to engage a racially diverse membership reflective of their surrounding neighborhood. For white-led efforts, the main impediment was found to be importing racial diversity rather than centering and celebrating BIPOC leadership and knowledge. BIPOC-led efforts held differing interpretations of the impact of historical trauma, possibly linked to a "rural imaginary." All gardens studied struggled to engage youth and expressed fear of losing food and growing knowledge across generations.

William D. Schanbacher, Joe Bohn, Erica Hall · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

A reflective essay (2025) recounts a pilot, public-facing virtual course, "Introduction to Food Policy," delivered in summer 2022 by the University of South Florida Food Sovereignty Initiative and the Florida Food Policy Council, building on prior Florida work in urban agriculture, agroecology, and food sovereignty. Over six weeks, the course featured weekly presentations from food-system specialists on: understanding food policy, researching food policy, environmental food policy, food policy advocacy, civic engagement in food policy formulation, and regional food policy, and was open to students, community members, and policymakers. The authors, drawn from Florida Food Policy Council leadership and Food Sovereignty Initiative faculty, share observations on developing and delivering the course along with participant comments from a post-course survey and an outside evaluation by the North American Food Systems Network.

Sarah Corcoran, Rachael Condley, Rachel A Liebe, Tuba Khan, Jillian Joyce, Deana Hildebrand, Ashlea Braun · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · United States (California)

At a hybrid food and resource center with an attached community garden in California, USA, a longitudinal, sequential explanatory mixed-methods study of 30 patrons (mean age 45.9, 73.3% women) combined quantitative measures (survey and skin carotenoids) with qualitative semi-structured interviews to examine barriers to and facilitators of fruit and vegetable intake. Skin carotenoid levels, a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake, were largely unchanged before and after (P = .51); among the 26 participants interviewed, facilitators cited included perceptions of quality and alignment with health goals, while barriers included mental health and competing priorities, leading to the conclusion that programs aiming to improve fruit and vegetable intake should prioritize non-diet determinants.

Yago Evangelista Tavares de Souza, Heloísa Soares de Moura Costa · Coleção Estudos Cariocas · Brazil

This article examines the evolution of urban-planning policy regarding nature and urban agriculture, from federal legislative texts to Rio de Janeiro's municipal master plans, analyzing documents including the 1976 draft Urban Development Law and the 1979 Federal Land Subdivision Law No. 6766. It traces decades of changes and revisions to show how legislation and public policy shaped the urban environment in relation to nature and agriculture, and it discusses the challenges small farmers face amid urbanization along with environmental approaches within the master plans.

Ikrema Hassan, Innocent Mugudamani, Saheed Adeyinka Oke · Environments · Canada

Top and subsoil samples from Carleton community garden in New Brunswick, Canada, affected by an industrial fire hazard, were analyzed for toxic heavy metals using ICP-OES and ICP-MS, with ecological risk assessed via the ecological risk factor and potential ecological risk index (PERI) and human health risk assessed using a standard approach. Mean concentrations of lead, zinc, copper and tin exceeded permissible limits under Canadian soil quality guidelines and upper continental crust values; nickel posed a high ecological risk across both soil layers while all other metals showed low ecological risk, and overall PERI indicated low ecological threat. In the human health assessment, children faced non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk from arsenic exposure while adults did not face risk from any of the metals studied, identifying arsenic as the primary contaminant of concern and children as the most vulnerable population.

Daniel Sgrancio Uliana, Rhaiza Marcia Passos Leal, Sara Jarske Gering, Érica Aguiar Moraes, Jackline Freitas Brilhante de São José · Revista Guará · Brazil

This experience report covers activities of the Brazilian university extension project "PANCCult: Cultivating Knowledge and Flavors of Unconventional Edible Plants," carried out from November 2021 to January 2024, which conducted social media outreach, organized and participated in events sharing nutritional and culinary information, carried out activities in an urban community garden, and produced scientific materials on unconventional edible plants (PANC) and urban community gardens. The report concludes the project contributed to disseminating knowledge about PANC and provided professional-training opportunities for extension students while encouraging sustainable use of plant biodiversity.

Rodriguez, Eliza · Digital Commons - CSUMB (California State University, Monterey Bay) · United States

A community outreach and education project in Gonzales, California, was implemented by the organization Savor the Local in partnership with the City of Gonzales and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, aiming to raise awareness of healthy eating and identify barriers to accessing nutritious food among the city's working-class residents. Activities included distributing an informational pamphlet, a follow-up survey, and support for a community garden and healthy cooking classes. Eight survey participants reported a better understanding of the importance of healthy eating and helped identify some reasons residents were not easily accessing healthy foods; the project reported meeting its goals of increasing awareness and gathering feedback on food-access barriers.

Krishna R. Reddy, Jaqueline Rojas Robles, Suzane A. V. Carneiro, Banuchandra Nagaraja · Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science · United States (Chicago)

Using an existing hydroponics system in Chicago as a case study, this life cycle assessment (environmental impact via SimaPro, social and economic sustainability via a semi-quantitative approach) compared a hypothetical scaled hydroponics system against a scaled community garden serving the same number of users in the same area. The results show hydroponics systems present greater sustainability challenges than community gardens overall, though a hydroponics system incorporating LED lights was found to be more sustainable than the community garden; the authors call for future research to more accurately assess the differences between the two models.

Anderson Luis Ferreira · Revista fisio&terapia. · Brazil

A qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study based on bibliographic and documentary review examines urban agriculture as a socio-environmental alternative to the contradictions of the Green Revolution. Drawing on classic and contemporary national and international literature and reports from multilateral bodies such as the FAO and UN-Habitat, it characterizes the Green Revolution as having raised agricultural productivity while deepening social inequality, homogenizing crops, and causing serious environmental impacts. It positions urban agriculture as valuing production diversity, strengthening community autonomy, and fostering new forms of sociability, concluding that examples across different contexts converge in strengthening food sovereignty, social inclusion, and urban sustainability.

· Wikipedia · United States

A Wikipedia article on Windowfarm, an open-source vertical hydroponic system originating when founder Britta Riley built the first Windowfarm in her Brooklyn apartment window in 2009. She launched a crowdsourced online community for building the systems from repurposed water bottles and plumbing supplies, which grew to nearly 40,000 registered users. Two Kickstarter campaigns raised over $285,000, but as of December 31, 2016, the company Windowfarms dissolved without sufficient assets to pay outstanding debts to creditors and investors.

Amato-Lourenço L.F., Franca G.C., Seckler M.M., Mauad T. · Environmental Challenges, 14:100864 · Brazil

An analysis of a resident-led, decentralized community composting initiative begun in 2018 in São Paulo, using thermophilic decomposition (the UFSC method) in public squares. It presents a civil-society-driven waste-management model with positive environmental and social outcomes.

Raychel E. Santo, Sara N. Lupolt, Katherine M. Uhde, Robert C. Bennaton, Keeve E. Nachman · Elem Sci Anth · United States

This scoping review compares land access mechanisms for urban agriculture across the 40 most populous US cities. It finds 75% of cities used at least one mechanism but only 20% offered multiple options; temporary-use mechanisms (e.g., Adopt-A-Lot programs, city-run farms and gardens) were more common than secure-tenure options like long-term leases and land trusts; 45% of cities designed mechanisms with an equity focus; and fewer than a quarter offered complementary support such as subsidized water, liability insurance, soil testing, or funding.

Maeve Malone, Kabindra M. Shakya · Sustainability · United States

This paper reviews the state of heavy metal contamination (such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium) in community garden soils across the United States, noting that gardeners are exposed through pathways such as inhalation and ingestion. It states that contamination hot spots are higher in city areas with greater minority populations and lower incomes. The review outlines mitigation approaches including applying biochar and compost, using raised beds, and maintaining a natural pH.

Kristin Reynolds, Cédric Gottfried, Tamarra Thomas · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States

This policy brief reports findings from a study examining, through a racial-equity lens, the rollout of the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production established by the 2018 farm bill. Drawing on national surveys, interviews in New York City and Atlanta, GIS mapping, and policy review, it situates the provisions within the USDA's history of discrimination and offers policy recommendations for engaging socially disadvantaged urban farmers.

Abriana Segal, Niya Khanjar, Julie Yang, Kelsey Brooks, Marcus Williams, Neith Little, Andrew Lazar, Rachel E. Rosenberg Goldstein · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Baltimore)

This study surveyed urban farms and community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland, to document irrigation practices, water sources, and interest in rainwater harvesting. Most sites were concerned about water availability yet all had access to city water; 27% were already harvesting rainwater and 54% were interested, and the authors suggest rainwater harvesting, food safety, and education programs could increase safe use of this water source.

Kristin Jones · Enquiry The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research · United States (Chicago)

Taking Alfred Caldwell's mid-century vision of small-scale farming as social empowerment as its starting point, this study examines three distinct urban farming approaches in Chicago—spanning raised-bed farming, aquaponics, hydroponics, and permaculture across a nonprofit, a community group, and a private entrepreneur—to assess their scalability and broader societal and environmental impact. It identifies numerous opportunities for scaling up and concludes that a multi-faceted, multi-scalar framework is needed to grow urban agriculture within resilient cities.

Max Sano · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States (Santa Clara Valley)

This is a book review of Gabriel R. Valle's "Gardening on the Margins," which draws on anthropological, community-based research in California's Santa Clara Valley. It highlights the La Mesa Verde community, whose gardeners engage in community gardening not only out of necessity but through an "ethic of care."