Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3765 results(134 / 151)
Research and Analysis of Qingdao Agricultural Structure and Layout
2010Zhigang Wei · Journal of Qingdao Agricultural University · China
A comprehensive survey of agricultural structure and layout in Qingdao, China. It states the sector has achieved transformation and upgrading, with growing agricultural industrialization and increasingly optimized layout of agricultural areas approaching cluster-scale planting and breeding industries. However, it reports that further adjustment of planting structure faces major bottlenecks due to limits on arable land and food security: the traditional small-scale fish-farming model seriously restricts further development of animal husbandry and aquaculture, and fluctuating agricultural product markets combined with a lack of competitiveness are affecting the agricultural industry's layout. It concludes that crop structure needs further adjustment, that production should be scaled up, specialized and standardized, and that urban agriculture should be emphasized to expand agricultural functions.
Economic viabilityPolicyUrban–rural linkageEconomicsPeri-urban agricultureUrban Agriculture Development from the Perspective of Circular Economy
2010Tianyi Zhang · Anhui nongye kexue · China
A paper examining the connotation and development of circular economy and circular agriculture from a circular-economy perspective. It uses the replicable Sino-Singapore Eco-City in Tianjin as a case study, analyzing the background, significance, and features of its construction, and identifies a sustainable development orientation of "harmony and three capabilities," along with implications for Tianjin's urban agriculture development in terms of water-saving, land-saving, and energy-saving. Under circular economy theory, enhancing the economical use of agricultural resources and the resource utilization of agricultural waste is said to have positive effects on improving the urban environment, including decentralizing organic solid waste from the sewage cycle system, further studying the physiological and biochemical mechanisms behind increasing yield and income in ecological agriculture, and incorporating urban agriculture into city land-use and development planning.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyLow carbon pattern features and types and policy proposals of development of urban agriculture.
2010Zhifeng Chen, Guohua Lin, Liu Rongzhang, Lin Shu-wen · Nongye xiandaihua yanjiu · Global
This paper analyzes the significance of low-carbon patterns in urban agriculture development from economic, aesthetic, ecological, and philosophical perspectives, examining low-carbon patterns characterized by high-value industry structures, high resource efficiency, ecological safety, and mechanism innovation. Based on a city's natural resources, agricultural resources, and low-carbon technology, it summarizes low-carbon patterns of urban agriculture spanning multiple regions, scenic areas, and types, and proposes that local governments should actively create conditions to support and develop low-carbon industrial patterns of urban agriculture.
PolicyCommunityClimate changeEconomicsImpact of Food Production on Consumer Protection and Agricultural Labour Force in South Asia: A Panel Data Analysis
2010SP Jayasooriya · Journal of humanities and social sciences · Global
Using FAOSTAT data from 2000 to 2005, this panel data analysis examines the impact of the food production index (FPI) on the food consumer price index (CPI), the agricultural labor force (ALF), and rural-urban and agricultural-nonagricultural populations in South Asia. While food production in the region increased, food prices also rose sharply, producing an undesirable dual impact in countries where net consumers outweigh net producers: consumers lose while producers gain. A random effects model was found more appropriate, and results indicate consumer protection, CPI, and ALF are country-specific determinants of food production.
EconomicsWelfare着力推动农业转型升级 加快建设现代都市农业--关于鄞州区农业转型升级的调查与思考
2010蔡元杰 · 浙江现代农业 · China
This survey report covers Yinzhou district, China, which borders central Ningbo and benefits from a favorable location and strong overall economic capacity, describing local efforts to transform and upgrade agriculture around reliance on the city, service to urban areas, and increasing farmer income. It states the district has built modern industrial and support systems and achieved positive results while maintaining rapid, healthy agricultural development, but presents no specific quantitative data.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityThe Application of Sustainability Assessment: A Community Garden Assessment tool
2010Danielle Nipper · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · United States
A methods paper (D-Scholarship@Pitt, University of Pittsburgh, 2010) proposes applying the Sustainability Assessment Modeling (SAM) framework—which quantifies stakeholder values, perceptions, and economic and environmental costs—to develop an assessment tool for community garden longevity and sustainability, motivated by evidence that community gardens often struggle with discontinuation. The paper reviews SAM-related literature and its methods, strengths and limitations, and proposes a participatory assessment process using indicators of organizational strengths, weaknesses, and success such as longevity, without presenting empirical test results of the tool itself.
CommunityPolicyEconomics郫县“传统农业旅游”转型“都市农业旅游”思考
2010邓清南, 许虹 · Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Sunyatseni · China
Pixian County in Sichuan, China — regarded as the birthplace of China's "farmhouse leisure" (nongjiale) tourism — is described as having successfully completed the initial stage of ecological agritourism development. Facing intensifying market competition from leisure agritourism in suburban Chengdu and the challenge of sustaining farmhouse leisure tourism, this discussion piece argues that upgrading Pixian's traditional ecological agritourism into urban-type agricultural tourism is a promising direction to explore, offering some preliminary reflections based on the actual state of agritourism development in Pixian County.
EconomicsPeri-urban agricultureUrban–rural linkageClasificadores: “Living Off the Trash” and Raising Hogs at the Urban Margin
2010Adam Shiloh Moates · Culture & Agriculture · Colombia
A case study of clasificadores (urban waste sorters) in Montevideo, Uruguay, focusing on the subset known as clasificadores criadores de cerdos (CCdCs) who raise hogs alongside recycling. CCdCs do not fit the standard urban agriculture model since they do not garden but instead feed collected organic refuse to hogs. Raising hogs in the irregular settlements where CCdCs live is illegal, and very little of the hog meat they produce is consumed by the CCdCs themselves; out-of-town hog farmers transport their "bootleg," trash-fed hogs to legitimate markets to close the legal loop for what remains a clandestine production system. Although clasificadores have recently organized cooperatives and a labor union, the hog-raising activity itself remains illegal and dependent on this informal, off-book market channel.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityDistance to the city and performance of food chains in Antananarivo, Madagascar
2010Marie Hélène Dabat, Romaine Ramananarivo, Evelyne Ravoniarisoa Faramalala, Tovohery Ramahaimandimbisoa, Christine Aubry · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · Madagascar
Little was known about the quantitative importance of urban agriculture in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital, but recent studies on supply chains for commodities including rice, tomato, cauliflower, and leafy vegetables provide insight into agriculture's contribution to the capital's food supply and the comparative advantage that urban locations offer for these chains.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsAgricultura urbana: elementos valorativos sobre su sostenibilidad
2010Cantor, Kelly-M · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Colombia (Bogotá)
This study analyzed urban agriculture practiced by forcibly displaced residents and by vulnerable populations living in poverty in southern Bogotá and the Soacha locality, Colombia, using a livelihoods approach and drawing on 20 local actors and public/private institutions that had run urban agriculture programs as its information source. It found that urban agriculture carries symbolic value as a livelihood and occupational alternative, framed around collective wellbeing beyond monetary value, and reflects a struggle by peasant identity to survive within city life—but concluded that it is not an integrally sustainable activity.
Economic viabilityCommunityEconomicsPolicyEl "Manifiesto Verde" de Leberecht Migge
2009de Cárdenas Maestre I. · Cuaderno de Notas, no. 12, 119-134 · Germany
A Spanish-language study of Migge's 1919 'Green Manifesto', examining his utopian call for self-sufficiency and self-governance through small, interconnected rural-urban groups he termed Stadtland or Landstadt.
CommunityEconomicsPolicyA farmers' market in a food desert: Evaluating impacts on the price and availability of healthy food
2009Larsen K., Gilliland J. · Health & Place 15(4):1158-1162 · Canada
Evaluates a farmers' market established in a London, Ontario food desert, analyzing its effect on the price and availability of fresh, healthy food and its potential to improve local food access.
WelfareEconomicsHealthLocal food, food miles and carbon emissions: A comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches
2009Coley, D., Howard, M., Winter, M. · Food Policy 34(2), 150–155 · United Kingdom
Compares farm-shop and mass-distribution approaches, showing that if a consumer drives more than 6.7 km one way, even local produce can emit more carbon than mass distribution—a classic paper opening the debate that 'local food is not automatically sustainable'.
Economics1990年以降の兵庫県の都市における農業の変化
2009大阪産業大学 · 大産大論集 第30号, 51–60 · Japan (Kobe)
An empirical analysis of agricultural change in urban Hyogo Prefecture (including Kobe) since the 1990s, statistically tracking trends in farmland conversion and the number of farm households driven by urbanization.
EconomicsThree Non-Circulating Hydroponic Methods for Growing Lettuce
2009Kratky B. A. · Acta Horticulturae · United States
Presents three non-circulating, low-cost hydroponic methods for growing lettuce in which roots grow into a static nutrient solution with no pump, air stone, timer, or electricity required. The passive approach can be built with simple containers/tanks and reduces additional labour.
DIYEconomicsFarmer’s Choice and Farmer’s Voice on the Use of Local versus Modern Inputs in Peri-Urban Agriculture in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
2009Kanhaiya Sapkota · Geographical Journal of Nepal · Nepal
A study conducted between November 2005 and January 2006 in the Manahara river basin of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, interviewed 20 vegetable growers to investigate their knowledge and practices regarding local versus modern agricultural inputs. Farmers have intensified production using improved green revolution techniques, showing a link between scientific and indigenous knowledge. They also recognize the necessity of institutional extension support for proper input use.
Peri-urban agricultureEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceTianjin coast urban agriculture characteristic and strategic localization analysis
2009Zhang Ya-guang · Guangdong nongye kexue · China (Tianjin)
This study analyzed the characteristics and strategic localization of Tianjin coastal urban agriculture. Tianjin coastal urban agriculture was shown to possess characteristics such as positional superiority, industrial fusion, multiplicity of functions, essential factor intensiveness, sustainable development, openness, and ecological protection. Its functions include strengthened economic function, consummated environmental protection ecology function, prominent radiation leading function, and developed social culture service function. Key forms include seedling source agriculture, green ecological agriculture, facility agriculture, processing agriculture, sea agriculture, port agriculture, and leisure sightseeing agriculture.
PolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkagePotentials of urban horticulture for poverty reduction in Dar es Salaam: a case of Kinondoni municipal
2009Heaven E Masashua, Frank George Haule Hawassi, Provident Dimoso · · Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
A study in Kinondoni Municipal, Dar es Salaam, examined the contribution of urban vegetable production to poverty reduction using 59 respondents. The study found that urban vegetable production increased income for smallholder farmers, improved food security, and enhanced access to health and education services. It concluded that urban horticulture has significant potential for poverty reduction.
WelfareEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceMicro-Finance Support and Urban Agriculture Expansion in Kampala Slums: Farmer Productivity Gains and Economic Empowerment Successes
2009Sserunkuma Muhumuza, Kajenye Amadi · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Uganda (Kampala)
A study in Kampala slums, Uganda, investigated the impact of micro-finance support on urban agriculture expansion. A mixed-methods approach combining quantitative analysis of financial records with qualitative interviews of farmers was used. Micro-finance support significantly increased average farm yields by 15% compared to baseline, and farmer confidence in economic strategies improved by 20 percentage points.
EconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareEconomics and Ground Cover Growth Characteristics of a New Method of Shallow Soil Artificial Foundation Planting
2009Jin-Woo Choi, Hag-Kee Kim, Kyong-Jae Lee, Hyun-Kyung Kang · Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture · South Korea
This study analyzed the economics and growth characteristics of native and imported ground cover plants in a new shallow soil rooftop gardening method, using 13cm soil thickness, on the rooftop of the Korean National Housing Corporation. The new method cost 45,000 won/m², which was 50% less expensive than existing methods. Native ground cover plants and some imported species showed increased cover rate, live weight, and dry weight, with improved growth, though some species required weed maintenance.
EconomicsBiodiversityDIYPerfil socioeconômico de feirantes brasileiros e bolivianos que comercializam hortaliças folhosas em feiras-livres no município fronteiriço Corumbá-Brasil/Bolívia
2009Mirane dos Santos Costa, Marivaine da Silva Brasil, Alberto Feiden, Adalgiza Inês Campolim · · Brazil/Bolivia
An exploratory study was conducted in the border cities of Corumbá, Brazil, and Puerto Quijarro/Puerto Suarez, Bolivia, to investigate the socioeconomic profile of Brazilian and Bolivian sellers of leafy vegetables at street fairs and their relations with urban farmers. The study aimed to identify the origin, production system of leafy vegetables, and the socioeconomic characteristics of these fair sellers and farmers, with preliminary results presented.
EconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityInvestigation on the Development Status of Urban Agriculture Park in Dawei Town
2009Wei‐Chao Jiang · Anhui nongye kexue · China (Hefei City)
This study investigated the urban agriculture park of Dawei Town in Baohe District of Hefei City, China, using site investigation, observation, and questionnaires. It expounded on the park's strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities through SWOT analysis and analyzed new problems under eco-tourism, proposing suggestions.
EconomicsPolicyCommunity加快推行西宁市“农超对接”工作
2009马国珍, 代晖军, 田昌明, 张友录 · 青海经济研究 · China (Xining City)
"Farm-supermarket direct docking" (农超对接) refers to the direct entry of agricultural products into supermarkets, connecting agriculture and supermarkets. This model effectively reduces circulation links and costs for agricultural products, ensuring urban supply and consumption safety and benefiting consumers. Although still in pilot stages in China, it represents a development trend for agricultural product production and marketing.
EconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageThe Development of Urban Agriculture to Improve the City's Ecological Role of Qinghai Analysis
2009XU Guang-zhong · Journal of Qinghai Normal University · China (Qinghai)
This analysis proposes the development of urban agriculture in Qinghai to address the ecological crisis arising from rapid urbanization. Urban agriculture, based on modern science and technology, integrates production, services, and consumption, possessing economic, ecological, and social functions. Promoting urban agriculture in Qinghai is stated to expand urban green areas and enhance the eco-city's functions.
BiodiversityClimate changeEconomicsUrban–agricultural water appropriation: the Hyderabad, India case
2009Mattia Celio, Christopher A. Scott, Mark Giordano · Geographical Journal · India (Hyderabad)
A study in Hyderabad, India, examined urban water capture and its impacts on pre-existing claims, particularly agriculture. Urban water appropriation often leads to conflict with existing water uses. The findings indicate that the magnitude and direction of impacts from urban water transfer on agriculture vary spatially and temporally, depending on location-specific rainfall patterns, existing water infrastructure and institutions, and farmers' adaptive capacities, including recourse to groundwater.
Environmental trade-offsUrban–rural linkagePolicyEconomics