Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK): An innovative community supported agriculture intervention to prevent childhood obesity in low-income families and strengthen local agricultural economies
2017Rebecca A. Seguin‐Fowler, Emily H. Morgan, Karla L. Hanson, Alice S. Ammerman, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Jane Kolodinsky, Marilyn Sitaker, Florence Becot, Leah M. Connor, Jennifer Garner, Jared T. McGuirt · BMC Public Health · United States
Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK) is a community-based, randomized intervention trial designed to assess the impact of subsidized community supported agriculture (CSA) coupled with nutrition education to prevent childhood obesity in low-income families and strengthen local agricultural economies. Conducted in New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington, the study targets low-income families with children aged 2-12 years. Primary outcomes include children's intake of fruits and vegetables, sugar and fat, and diet quality, with data collected over three years.
CSA & TeikeiHealthWelfareEconomicsFood educationUrban Development Legislation for Cities, by Cities
2017Kellen Zale · Maine law review · United States
This presentation connects Senator Muskie's legacy in urban development and Model Cities to contemporary urban development legislation. It highlights that while urban development legislation can originate from any government level, local governments are crafting innovative responses to urban challenges. Examples include Detroit's blight reduction, Seattle's living wage ordinance, San Francisco's urban agriculture zoning, and New Orleans' mixed-use public housing redevelopment.
PolicyHealthBarriers and facilitators to healthy eating and disease self-management among older adults residing in subsidized housing
2017Katherine Frances Petroka, Rania Campbell-Bussiere, Dan Dychtwald, Brandy‐Joe Milliron · Nutrition and Health · United States (Philadelphia)
This 2017 qualitative study in Philadelphia, USA, investigated barriers and facilitators to healthy eating among 24 low-income seniors (65-75 years old) in subsidized housing, which included a community garden and food pantry. Personal barriers included food cost, physical limitations, and low self-efficacy, while external barriers involved lack of transportation and market distance. Facilitators focused on food preparation, and participants expressed interest in community nutrition programming.
HealthElderlyCommunityWelfareAlternative and Virtual Rurality: Agriculture and The Countryside as Embodied in American Imagination
2017Lisa M. Butler Harrington · Geographical Review · United States
This study in the United States identified connections to ideals of rurality in popular culture, despite the shrinking rural population. Based on literature, field observation, computer searches, and U.S. Census of Agriculture data, manifestations include rural tourism, small-scale farming, urban agriculture, farmers’ markets, and housing developments centered on farm activities. These idealized relationships with rurality are linked to health, well-being, nature connection, aesthetics, privacy, and nostalgia.
Urban–rural linkageCSA & TeikeiCommunityHealthEffects of a School-Based Intervention on BMI z-Scores and Fitness Parameters in Mississippi Delta Children
2017Kathy B. Knight, Janie W. Cole, Lacy M. Dodd, Charlotte B. Oakley · International Journal of School Health · United States
The "Eating good and moving like we should (EGMLWS)" school-based intervention aimed to prevent and reduce childhood obesity among primarily African American third-grade students in 7 Mississippi Delta schools. The program included curricula, school gardens, and school menu consultation. Pre- and post-intervention BMI z-scores and Fitnessgram parameters (PACER and back-saver sit-and-reach) were compared. Mean BMI z-scores significantly lowered in 2 schools, did not change in 4 schools, and increased in 2 schools. PACER scores increased in 5 of 7 schools, and sit-and-reach scores increased in 5 and 6 schools respectively.
Limited or null effectFood educationHealthCommunityAn Inventory and Assessment of Street Amenities and Vacant Lots in Downtown Lewiston, Maine: Defining Potential to Create a Healthier Neighborhood
2017Dacota Griffin, Joe Tulip, Noah Morasch · · United States (Lewiston)
This project created an ArcGIS inventory of street amenities in downtown Lewiston, Maine, supporting the Healthy Neighborhoods (HN) organization. A scoring index was developed to compare streets, and a brief assessment of vacant lots was conducted to evaluate future development potential. Findings showed trees greatly outnumbered other amenities, significant variation in sidewalk smoothness with vacant lots more common in flawed areas, and limited, non-uniform distribution of community gardens and open access green spaces.
CommunityHealthEconomicsYéego Gardening! A Community Garden Intervention to Promote Health on the Navajo Nation
2017India J. Ornelas, Desiree Deschenie, Jesse Jim, Sonia Bishop, Kevin Lombard, Shirley A.A. Beresford · Progress in community health partnerships · United States
Yéego Gardening! is a community garden intervention designed to increase gardening behavior, access to low-cost fruits and vegetables, and consumption in Navajo communities. The intervention involved constructing and maintaining gardens in two Navajo communities, holding monthly workshops on gardening and healthy eating, and conducting community outreach. Community input was essential throughout the planning and implementation.
CommunityHealthFood educationReverberação Política e Educativa para Cidade Saudável
2017Ana Maria Girotti Sperandio, Adriana Aparecida Carneiro Rosa, Betânia Gonçalves de Carvalho, Pereira, Bruna Ridolfi · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil
This field research in Santa Barbara d’Oeste, São Paulo state, Brazil, aimed to identify healthy city values and principles by studying the Community Garden of Maria Augusta Canto Camargo Bilia Municipal School. It explored political strategies for health, education, and social justice through the garden-school community interrelationship, identifying strategies proposed by caregivers, managers, and residents regarding experience exchange and student participation in urban community garden products. The study concluded that actions improving empowerment, autonomy, and governance are essential for constructing healthy city indicators.
CommunityFood educationHealthPolicyChapter 2: Agriculture sector modernization and renewable energy development: perspectives from developing countries
2017Deborah Hines, Sarah Balistreri · Sustainable energy developments · Latin America and the Caribbean
This chapter highlights successful Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA) practices in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that have improved food and nutrition security and increased dietary diversity. It introduces sustainable production techniques that reduce dependence on traditional energy sources and promote renewable energy. The chapter provides evidence that UPA activities can reduce poverty and hunger, generate food and nutrition security benefits, and create employment and income for poor urban households in LAC.
Food sovereignty & justiceEconomicsHealthClimate changePolitical and Educatinal Reverbaration for a Health City
2017Ana Maria Girotti Sperandio, Adriana Aparecida Carneiro Rosa, Betânia Gonçalves de Carvalho · Cadernos de Pós Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo · Brazil (São Paulo)
This article identifies healthy city values and principles and discusses the results of field research conducted in the Community Garden of Maria Augusta Canto Camargo Bilia Municipal School in Santa Barbara d’Oeste, São Paulo, Brazil. The study explored political strategies for health, education, and social justice through the interrelationship between the garden and the school community. It utilized “Observational Dialogue” and a WHOQOL-100 readjustment questionnaire, concluding that actions improving empowerment, autonomy, and governance are essential for constructing healthy city indicators.
CommunityFood educationHealthPolicyAdults and Children in Low-Income Households that Participate in Cost-Offset Community Supported Agriculture Have High Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
2017Karla L. Hanson, Jane Kolodinsky, Weiwei Wang, Emily H. Morgan, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Alice S. Ammerman, Marilyn Sitaker, Rebecca A. Seguin‐Fowler · Nutrients · United States
This study surveyed 41 adults and children (2-12 years) in August 2015 and 23 in February 2016 from low-income households participating in a 50% subsidized Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in the United States. Participants' fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) was higher than US averages, and they more frequently met vegetable recommendations. While some seasonal produce was consumed more often when locally in-season, causality between CO-CSA participation and FVI could not be inferred due to potential self-selection bias.
CSA & TeikeiHealthWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceRECOVERY OF HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES THROUGH EXPERIENCES OF AGROECOLOGY AND URBAN AGRICULTURE
2017Silvana Maria Ribeiro, Jessica Franco, Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Cláudia Maria Bógus, Helena Akemi Wada Watanabe · DEMETRA Alimentação Nutrição & Saúde · Brazil
This paper discusses the recovery of practices focused on food, health, and the environment through four workshops held in Brazil in 2012 and 2013, which systematized experiences from the agroecological urban agriculture project "ColhendoSustentabilidade." This participatory qualitative research, involving 24 participants, revealed that contact with land in garden activities contributes to cultural recovery and new knowledge construction, promotes gradual changes in eating habits by emphasizing the food-health-environment relationship, and provides opportunities for social interaction involving food.
HealthFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationGardening in the desert: a spatial optimization approach to locating gardens in rapidly expanding urban environments
2017Elizabeth A. Mack, Daoqin Tong, Kevin Credit · International Journal of Health Geographics · United States (Phoenix)
This study used spatial optimization models in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area to identify optimal locations for urban gardens near food deserts and on vacant land. Spatial analysis found that existing gardens are primarily in areas with good food access, providing an alternative food source to only 8.4% of food desert residents. The optimization model, however, identified 53 alternative garden locations that could cover 96.4% of all food deserts, demonstrating a significant improvement over the current distribution.
CommunityHealthPolicyAssessing a School Gardening Program as an Integrated Component of a Pilot Farm-to-school Initiative Based in South Carolina
2017Carl E. Taylor, Elizabeth B. Symon, Amy Dabbs, Alexander Way, Olivia M. Thompson · HortTechnology · United States
An online survey of 37 educators (36% response rate) in South Carolina, who completed a school gardening training course between 2012-2015, assessed a pilot farm-to-school initiative. The study found that most educators were unaware their garden was part of the initiative, and gardens were not integrated with school-wide programs, particularly cafeteria meals. However, most educators maintained their gardens for over a year and used them for academic instruction.
Limited or null effectFood educationHealthAlternative food and gentrification: Farmers’ markets, community gardens and the transformation of urban neighborhoods
2017Pascale Joassart‐Marcelli, Fernando J. Bosco · · United States (San Diego)
The alternative food movement (farmers' markets, community gardens) in San Diego, United States, was investigated in relation to gentrification. Uneven urban food landscapes were shown to be intimately connected to gentrification processes, shaped by race, class, political decisions, and capital flows. Farmers' markets and community gardens are primarily located in affluent and gentrifying areas, providing evidence of a growing appropriation of alternative food spaces by urban developers and cultural elites.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsPolicyHealthThe Efficacy of an Urban Farm Intervention Based on the Stages of Change for a Low Income Population with Multiple Risk Factors for Diabetes
2017Rachel A. Clare, J. S. Jenkins, Debbie Humphries · The FASEB Journal · United States (New Haven, CT)
In 2016 in New Haven, CT, USA, a 16-week urban agriculture-based wellness program was evaluated for 73 low-income individuals with multiple risk factors for diabetes. The program aimed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease diabetes risk factors. Among the 30 participants with complete data after program completion, daily vegetable servings increased to an average of 2.1, but daily fruit servings decreased to 1.5.
HealthWelfareFood educationCommunityA survey of urban community gardeners in the USA.
2017Tammy E. Parece, Joseph Campbell · CABI eBooks · United States
A survey of 177 urban gardeners across the USA found that social and health gains are the most widely identified benefits, highly regarded by gardeners. The survey results are consistent with existing literature on urban agriculture benefits. Interest in community gardening has increased across all garden sites, indicating its sustained appeal.
CommunityHealthEconomicsSearching for Haknip Achukma (Good Health): Challenges to Food Sovereignty Initiatives in Oklahoma
2017Devon A. Mihesuah · American Indian Culture and Research Journal · United States
In Oklahoma, tribes have initiated numerous food projects over the past three decades aimed at achieving food sovereignty. However, Oklahoma's complex history, environmental issues, and current politics present challenges such as uneven food quality, poor indigenous health, intratribal factionalism, racism, and a stark dichotomy of affluence and extreme poverty. These factors complicate the creation of self-sufficient food systems and the reconnection of tribal members with traditional foodways.
Equity & displacementFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationHealthUC pursues rooted research with a nonprofit, links the many benefits of community gardens
2017Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell, James Bliesner, Keith Pezzoli · California Agriculture · United States
This study collaborated with the San Diego Community Garden Network to analyze the production, distribution, and consumption of produce from eight community gardens in San Diego County. UC San Diego researchers and students worked with county residents and community-based organizations to develop a survey. Interviews with gardeners and survey data documented how community gardens contribute to individual and household health, well-being, and community development. The findings suggest that community gardens have the potential to contribute meaningfully to community development, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.
CommunityHealthEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceAgricultura urbana: o desenvolvimento de um projeto social
2017Joice Zagna Valent, Letícia de Oliveira, Vinicius Dornelles Valent · DRd - Desenvolvimento Regional em debate · Brazil
This descriptive study aimed to describe a social urban agriculture project in a community located in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Through a literature review and a semi-structured interview with the project coordinator, it was shown that urban agriculture possesses social, economic, ecological, and symbolic dimensions beyond food production. The study concluded that various projects developed around urban food cultivation, with main impacts including the promotion of food security, generation of employment and income, environmental management, social integration, and development of human capital.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsHealthWelfareContaminants in Urban Soils: Bioavailability and Transfer
2017Dorothy Menefee, Ganga M. Hettiarachchi · · United States
Soil contamination with potentially toxic trace elements and anthropogenic organic pollutants is a widespread problem in urban areas worldwide. While urban agriculture increases food security, potential risks exist without knowledge of urban soil contamination. Lead (Pb) contamination is a widespread and common urban soil issue associated with human health risks, with almost half of US EPA Superfund sites having Pb contamination. Cadmium (Cd) is also a widespread urban soil pollutant, largely from industrial activities like plastic manufacturing, battery disposal, and metal ore processing. The bioavailability of soil Pb to humans is unusually low and generally tied to Pb speciation.
Contamination & food safetyHealthCommunityLeadership, partnerships, and civic engagement
2017Helena C. Lyson · · United States (California)
This qualitative fieldwork in a large, urban school district in Northern California explored school food reform efforts addressing childhood obesity. Reforms transpired through three processes: sustained involvement of parent-activists, leadership by the school food service director in championing farm-to-school efforts and facilitating partnerships, and widespread community support for funding and implementation. These findings indicate how local social change transformed public school food programs to benefit youth health.
Food educationCommunityHealthPolicyGetting the Lead Out: Urban Chicken Keeping as Transformative Neo-Agrarianism
2017Sydney Giacalone · Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography · United States (Boston)
This ethnographic study, conducted in Boston and Somerville in the summer of 2016, investigated how urban chicken keeping might transform keepers’ thinking about food systems and animal relationships. The research revealed the unexpected discovery of lead contamination in urban chicken flocks in the Boston area, which unsettled the imagined simplicity of urban agriculture and exposed a "metabolic rift." This finding prompted keepers to engage more deeply with the history of the soil and opened new ways of thinking about collective metabolism, multispecies living, and food politics.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthCommunity and home gardens increase vegetable intake and food security of residents in San Jose, California
2016Algert S., Diekmann L., Renvall M., Gray L. · California Agriculture 70(2):77-82 · United States
Survey of 85 community and 50 home gardeners in San Jose, mostly low-income. Gardeners roughly doubled their vegetable intake to meet dietary guideline servings, with improved household food security.
WelfareHealthLead in Urban Soils: A Real or Perceived Concern for Urban Agriculture?
2016Brown S.L., Chaney R.L., Hettiarachchi G.M. · Journal of Environmental Quality, 45(1):26-36 · United States
A review examining the risk that urban soil lead poses to urban agriculture. It concludes that adding compost, organic matter and phosphorus improves soil properties and reduces both the bioavailability of soil lead and fugitive dust, so urban agriculture is unlikely to raise children's blood lead. The findings support the safety of compost-centred soil management in urban gardens.
CompostHealthPolicyOrganic cycle