Research & reports

Valéria Borges Yonegura, Henrique Manoel da Silva · Cadernos de Ciência & Tecnologia · Brazil (Curitiba)

A study of urban agriculture's effects in two neighborhoods of southern Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil - an area historically stigmatized for violence and poverty - that observed increases in quality of life, aesthetic improvement of the landscape, a greater sense of security and inclusion, and residents' topophilic attachment to place. Urban agriculture is used in the city's marketing, but the paper states that its continuity is partly threatened by the possible end of a partnership with the local electric utility and by real estate market pressure. Most results come from a master's thesis, with continued monitoring via media coverage and contact with community leaders.

Amrik Singh Khalsa, Jonathan Burton, Michael T. Bailey, Jiangjiang Zhu, Kelly J. Kelleher, Ross Maltz, Brett R. Loman, Colleen Spees · BMC Nutrition · United States

Non-invasive human biospecimens including stool, urine, and hair are important for understanding the relationship between diet and changes in human physiologic processes affecting chronic disease outcomes, but collection can be difficult for studies conducted away from a centralized location. This paper describes the protocol and feasibility of collecting stool, urine, and hair biospecimens from parents and children at a remote location, as part of the Summer Harvest Adventure (SHA) study, a randomized controlled, community garden-based intervention targeting children aged 8-11 and their parents from low-resource neighborhoods in the United States. Biospecimens were collected at baseline and post-intervention from willing children and parents in both intervention and control groups, for microbiome, metabolomics, and hair analyses, at a location distant from the academic laboratories conducting the analysis. Of 146 SHA participants (73 parent-child dyads) eligible to provide a biospecimen, 126 consented to hair, 115 to stool, and 127 to urine collection. Among those who consented, 44 children (69.8%) and 38 parents (60.3%) provided at least one hair sample; 27 children (48.2%) and 37 parents (62.7%) provided at least one stool sample; and 36 children (57.1%) and 42 parents (65.6%) provided at least one urine sample. Sample collection, transport, and handling at the academic center were successful, and all biospecimens collected were deemed adequate for analysis. DNA and metabolomics yield on a subset of stool samples showed an abundance of species and metabolites as predicted. Urine and hair analyses were described as still underway, with the study characterized as among the first to describe the feasibility of collecting these biospecimens from both parents and children in this remote setting.

Yuki Kato, Caroline Boules · Journal of Urban Affairs · United States

The disruption of social and food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic presented a distinct set of opportunities and challenges for urban agriculture. Based on 79 in-depth interviews with managers of community gardens, school gardens, and urban farms in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, this study used post-disaster "social recovery" theory to explore how each type of urban agriculture responded differently to the pandemic's social, economic, and personal disruptions. Findings showed significant differences in immediate impacts across the types of urban agriculture, with community gardens being the least affected and urban farms implementing the most variant adaptation strategies. Notable differences also appeared within each type, especially among urban farms. The study attributes these variant adaptation trajectories to pre-disaster conditions, including autonomy over cultivation space, access to resources, and connections with other facets of city life, concluding by underscoring the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity of urban agriculture when assessing its transformational capacity and potential.

Brandy‐Joe Milliron, Dane C. Ward, Janeway Granche, Janell L. Mensinger, Dahlia Stott, Claire Chenault, Franco Montalto, Eugenia Ellis · American Journal of Health Promotion · United States

A cross-sectional online survey of 317 adults aged 18 and older residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, measured nature relatedness (NR) using a 21-item scale with self, experience and perspective subscales, dietary diversity using the FAO's standardized tool (scored 0-9), and fruit and vegetable intake using the NCI's 2-item CUP screener. Multivariable regression models adjusted for age, race, gender and income found that higher NR Total, NR Self, NR Perspective and NR Experience scores were associated with greater dietary diversity, and that higher NR Total, NR Self and NR Experience scores were associated with greater fruit and vegetable intake; these associations remained significant after adjusting for the covariates. NR was associated with better dietary intake even after accounting for sociodemographic factors.

Celeste M. Schultz, Alexander Rosen · The Journal of School Nursing · United States

A garden-based education program implemented in elementary, middle and high schools on Chicago's South and West Sides was examined for its effects on students. Implementing gardens was found to have a positive impact on the availability, access and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as on students' social-emotional well-being. More rigorous studies controlling for socioeconomic status were identified as needed to establish the long-term effects on obesity prevention, mental health outcomes and economic benefits.

Michelle Tokunbo ‘Tok’ Oluwaseyi Oyewole · Capitalism Nature Socialism · United States (New York City)

Based on the perspectives of gardeners in public schools in Brooklyn, New York, a four-part framework of liberatory practices and potentials via school gardening is outlined, examining what liberatory practices occur in Brooklyn school gardens and their potential for building on them in relation to rectifying injustices faced by racially minoritized communities. Gardens were found to support personal achievement, health benefits, adult mentorship, peer bonding, identity affirmation, community transformation, and positive relationships with the natural world. Some programming addressed social and environmental injustices explicitly, but students and staff identified potential to expand this work, particularly through clearer curricular prioritization and social and material support.

Julia N. M. Campbell · Digital Archive @ GSU · United States

This paper discusses how brownfield sites affect physical health (injury hazards, disease transmission, chemical exposure) and social health determinants such as neighborhood social capital, and argues that reusing brownfields as community gardens reduces environmental and associated health hazards while increasing nutrition access — especially for low-income populations — community aesthetics, social cohesion, and recreational or therapeutic opportunities. It states that special precautions are required to protect public health when converting a brownfield to a garden, including chemical sampling, soil cleanup, and protective garden design, and concludes that the community benefit is worth the initial investment required, without presenting site-specific measured outcomes.

Abby M. Lohr, Melanie L. Bell, Kiera Coulter, Sallie A. Marston, Moses Thompson, Scott C. Carvajal, Ada M. Wilkinson‐Lee, Lynn B. Gerald, Josephine D. Korchmaros · Health Education & Behavior · United States (New York City)

This cross-sectional secondary analysis used evaluation data from a university-supported Community School Garden Program (CSGP) to examine, mostly among Latino/a (Hispanic) elementary students at Title I schools in New York City, United States, whether duration of school garden exposure (≤1 year versus >1 year) was associated with self-reported learning and school connectedness, using social cognitive theory as the analytic frame. Duration of school garden exposure showed no statistically significant association with self-reported learning or feelings of school connectedness. Regardless of past exposure, fifth-grade students, females, and those identifying as Latino/a (Hispanic) felt the garden program improved their learning; qualitative results indicated most students enjoyed time in the garden and felt the program helped them learn new things and feel connected to school.

Paulo Silvano Magno Fróes Júnior, Fabrício Khoury Rebello, Cyntia Meireles Martins, Maria Lúcia Bahia Lopes, Caio Cézar Ferreira de Souza, Joyce dos Santos Saraiva, João Paulo Borges de Loureiro, Antônia do Socorro Aleixo Barbosa, Geany Cleide Carvalho Martins, Janayna Galvão de Araújo, Marcos Antônio Souza dos Santos · Journal of Agricultural Studies · Brazil

This study characterized agricultural production systems under urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in the Curuçambá neighborhood of the Metropolitan Region of Belém (RMB), Brazilian Amazon, identifying the main techniques, crops, and animals raised, and estimating production's contribution to family consumption on a complementary, exploratory basis. Data came from interviews with 63 residents (52.50% of the neighborhood's population), two weeks of food-consumption monitoring for six producer families, and georeferencing using Google Satellite imagery. Farmers came mainly from northeastern Pará (57.14%), with others from Maranhão (9.52%), Ceará (9.52%), and Paraíba (1.59%); urban agriculture in the region was established through the migration of rural residents to Amazonian cities. Most farmers had completed elementary school II (69.84%) and had an average monthly income of one to two minimum wages (50.79%). Agricultural production occurred in roughly 111 residences in the neighborhood, based on horticulture and small livestock keeping, across six production systems -- common beds (71.43%), suspended beds (12.70%), fruticulture (6.35%), agroforestry yards (3.17%), hydroponics (4.76%), and aquaponics (1.59%) -- directed toward supplying RMB markets. On average, 30.89% of farmers' income covered family consumption, and the opportunity cost of consumption for the five main crops grown (jambu, lettuce, coriander, chicory, and cariru) was estimated at R$79.88 monthly, 8.37% of the minimum wage at the time.

Annie-Pier Mercier, Gabrielle Rochefort, Julie Fortier, Geneviève J. Parent, Véronique Provencher, Simone Lemieux, Benoı̂t Lamarche · Current Developments in Nutrition · Canada

A short questionnaire measuring local food procurement behavior, the Locavore-Index Short Form (Locavore-I-SF), was developed and validated among 299 French-speaking adults (85% women) in the Quebec City metropolitan area, Canada. The 12-item, 12-point instrument covering short food supply chain use and geographic origin of carrot, tomato and lettuce showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.74), correlated strongly with the original Locavore-Index (r=0.84, P<0.0001) and with photo-verified food origin (r=0.50, P<0.0001), and was higher among gardeners than non-gardeners (mean difference 2.3±0.4 points, P<0.0001); its association with the Healthy Eating Food Index-2019 score was weak (B=0.05±0.02, P=0.02).

W. Wang, J.A. Garner, G.A. Marshall, M. Sitaker, E.H. Belarmino, A.S. Ammerman, S.B. Jilcott Pitts, R.A. Seguin-Fowler, J. Kolodinsky, K.L. Hanson · UNC Libraries · United States

The Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK) randomized controlled trial, conducted in New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington from 2016 to 2018, assigned 305 caregiver-child dyads to a cost-offset (half-price) community supported agriculture (CSA) share plus tailored nutrition education, or to a delayed-intervention control group. After one growing season, no significant net effects were observed on children's dietary intake, BMI, or physical activity. Caregivers, however, showed statistically significant net improvements in cooking attitudes, skills, and self-efficacy, fruit and vegetable intake and skin carotenoid levels, and household food security. Improvements in attitudes and self-efficacy persisted at one-year follow-up, but improvements in caregiver diet and household food security did not. The number of weeks a household picked up its CSA share — not the number of education sessions attended — was associated with improvements in caregiver fruit and vegetable intake and household food security. The study concludes that cost-offset CSA plus nutrition education improved caregiver and household outcomes within one season but had no effect on children, and some improvements were not maintained after the CSA season ended.

Sara N Lupolt, Raychel E Santo, Brent F Kim, Thomas A Burke, Keeve E Nachman · GeoHealth · United States (40 cities)

A 2022 review that collected and evaluated 43 soil-safety-related urban agriculture policies across 40 US cities. About half of these cities had at least one policy that recommended soil testing or provided a testing service, but only eight cities had any policy containing an actual requirement (on soil testing or on a specific growing practice). The authors also found notable inconsistencies between cities in what counts as an 'acceptable' level of lead in soil and in the actions recommended at each level. Because US Environmental Protection Agency guidance on soil lead was not written with urban agriculture in mind, the paper sets out the research needed to revise that guidance and offers recommendations for drafting or revising municipal soil safety policies. It documents a governance gap: responses to urban soil contamination are fragmented across jurisdictions and mostly non-binding.

Landry M., van den Berg A., Hoelscher D., Davis J. · Nutrients, 13(9):3081 (MDPI) · United States

A randomized controlled trial across 16 mostly Hispanic, low-income elementary schools in Texas evaluating the TX Sprouts intervention, which embedded gardening, cooking and nutrition lessons. Children in intervention schools significantly increased vegetable intake, showing that garden-centered food education can improve children's dietary quality.

Greathouse J., Henning S., Soendergaard M. · Plants 10(5):965 · United States

Grafted heirloom tomatoes (Black Krim, Green Zebra) and standard Big Beef onto rootstocks in hydroponics, measuring antioxidant capacity, phenolics, and lycopene. Specific rootstocks raised antioxidant capacity and altered phenolic content of heirlooms.

Guzzon F., Arandia Rios L.W., Caviedes Cepeda G.M., Céspedes Polo M., Chavez Cabrera A., Muriel Figueroa J., Medina Hoyos A.E., Jara Calvo T.W., Molnar T.L., Narro León L.A. · Agronomy 11(1):172 · Latin America

Reviews the fundamental role of Latin American maize landraces for food security, livelihoods and culture, the threat of genetic erosion, and the current state of their conservation and use.

Lange S. J., Calancie L., Onufrak S. J., Reddy K. T., Palmer A., Warnock A. L. · Nutrients 13(2):683 · United States

National survey showing that the presence of food policy councils is associated with local policies supporting healthy food access, including for food-insecure populations, underscoring their role in food system governance.

Davis J. N., Pérez A., Asigbee F. M., Landry M. J., Vandyousefi S., Ghaddar R., Hoover A., Jeans M., Nikah K., Fischer B., Pont S. J., Richards D., Hoelscher D. M., Van Den Berg A. E. · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 18:18 · United States

Cluster RCT in 16 elementary schools. A one-year gardening, cooking and nutrition program significantly increased children's vegetable intake but did not reduce BMI or other obesity outcomes.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · USA

A study of how agency and sociality within gardens designed for health and healing cultivate participant wellbeing and community resilience.

Glover T. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · USA

A qualitative study of a Midwestern U.S. community garden, examining stories of social connectedness produced through shared garden participation and their public-health significance.

· Scientific Reports · Guelph, Canada

Analyzing heavy metals in urban garden soils in Guelph, the study examines links between contamination and vulnerable populations, raising environmental-justice concerns that soil contamination in urban gardens may impose unequal health risks.

Mariana Portilho, Camila Gonçalves de Oliveira Rodrigues , Annelise Caetano Fraga Fernandez · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)

This study presents the formation of Arranjo Local da Penha, a community territorial network established in 2016 in the Penha favela complex in Rio de Janeiro. Primarily led by women and focused on promoting urban agriculture based on agroecology, this network fostered women's protagonism and built emotional ties between them and the place, mainly by enabling access to "real food" in the favela.

Jackie Hendrickson · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States (Utah)

Utah State University's Food $ense and Master Gardener programs partnered to create the "Create Farm Fresh Gardens" community gardening program, targeting low-income families in Cache Valley, Utah. Piloted during the 2018 growing season, the program aimed to improve food security by increasing access to fresh vegetables and enhancing participants' self-efficacy in gardening and nutrition. Participants provided supportive feedback, and the program was slated for statewide implementation in Utah during the 2019 growing season.

Tatiane Sueli Coutinho, Adrian José Ramos, Eric Schwamberger, Kassia Kathellyn Barboza, Eduarda Nunes, Roberta Hoepers Mascarenhas, Vinícius Verwiebe, Gabriela Santos Patriarca, Rossie Katherine dos Santos, Alicia Weber, Giovana Schwamberger, Jamily Assini, Samuel Carvalho de Matos-Filho, Isadora Bombassaro, Vitor Gomes Pinheiro · Extensão em Foco · Brazil

The Ervaterapia extension program, established in 2018 in Brusque, Brazil, aimed to create medicinal herb gardens and integrate students with the community. Activities included distributing approximately 300 seedlings, lectures, workshops, and creating school gardens, alongside a "Super Ervas" comic book. The project observed increased community awareness of medicinal herbs, leading to greater demand for natural products to alleviate symptoms and reduced consumption of allopathic medicines, as well as children's understanding of plant care.

Christine Costello, Zeynab Oveysi, Bayram Dündar, Ronald G. McGarvey · Environmental Science & Technology · United States (Chicago)

This study used optimization techniques to assess the land area and radius needed around Chicago, Illinois, to meet nutritional needs. It found that no mix of food items could satisfy vitamin D, B12, and calcium needs within a 650 km radius. While urban agriculture reduced the required radius by 10-15 km, significant nutrient fortification or supplementation was still necessary to localize the food system.

Diana Gabriela Figueroa-Piña, Jorge Luis Chávez‐Servín, Karina de la Torre‐Carbot, María del Carmen Caamaño, Gabriela Lucas-Deecke, Patricia Roitman Genoud, Laura Regina Ojeda-Navarro · Nutrition Research and Practice · Mexico (Queretaro)

A 3-arm controlled comparative impact study was conducted with 126 teenagers aged 12-18 at a private middle/high school in Queretaro, Mexico, to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention with a school garden (FE+SG) versus food education only (FE) and a control group (CG) on vegetable and fruit consumption. Both the FE+SG and FE groups significantly increased the frequency and daily intake of vegetables and fruits compared to the CG. The FE+SG group showed greater understanding, reflection, analysis of information, and willingness to include these in their daily diet. It was concluded that FE accompanied by a school garden is more effective than education alone or control in promoting vegetable and fruit consumption in middle-upper income teenagers.