Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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Critical findings
7626 results(150 / 306)
Evaluation of the Impact of School Garden Exposure on Youth Outlook and Behaviors toward Vegetables in Southern Arizona
2020Abby M. Lohr, Nick Henry, Denise J. Roe, Claudio Andrés Garrido Rodríguez, Rosalva Romero, Maia Ingram · Journal of School Health · United States
This study evaluated the effect of garden-based learning on outlook and behaviors toward vegetables among primarily Latinx third- and fourth-grade students at four elementary schools with different garden programs in southern Arizona. Students completed a bingo-format survey and participated in class discussions measuring their attitudes and behaviors. Students at schools with more garden exposure were more likely to give responses reflecting positive attitudes and behaviors toward vegetables, and most often named vegetables grown in the school garden as their favorites in class discussions. For third- and fourth-graders, longer exposure to a school garden was associated with more positive perceptions of and desire to consume vegetables.
Food educationHealthCommunityUrban agriculture in Havana – evidence from empirical research
2020Ada Górna, Krzysztof Górny · Miscellanea Geographica · Cuba
An exploratory, classification-based study combining fieldwork with satellite and aerial imagery analysis characterized urban agriculture across the built-up areas of Havana, Cuba. It found urban gardens distributed unevenly across the city, concentrated in lower-density districts where land was intentionally left between buildings by modernist planners, with organopónico (organoponics) as the most common production technique — but found that the material commonly used to build the bordering walls of these plots is asbestos, posing a significant health threat to both producers and consumers.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityOrganic cycleUn regard relationnel sur le monde, la Nature et un jardin
2020Nicholas Henderson, Quentin Lefèvre · Sens-Dessous · France
This article investigates biology, economics and landscape through the lens of a relational paradigm that the author identifies as pervasive across both the social and life sciences, positing the relational nature of the world as an actant reality that remains largely invisible. It also examines the human relationship to the living world amid what it frames as a crisis in that relationship, and analyzes a shared permaculture garden as a manifestation of "relational design" — an approach to design centered on relationship.
CommunityOrganic cycleDIYAlternative food politics
2020Cordula Kropp, Clara Da Ros · · Europe
Ethnographic case studies examined urban farming movements in Leipzig, Germany and Nantes, France. The Leipzig movement is strongly oriented toward building an environmentally friendly, sustainable post-growth economy, while the Nantes movement is aimed above all at overcoming social inequality and exclusion; in both cities, participants respond to forces in urban development they perceive as opposed to their own needs and interests, encouraging fellow citizens to reclaim local spaces and cultivate them for community subsistence.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyClimate changeAnálise econômico-ecológica da agricultura familiar em propriedade de Vargem Grande – bairro da zona do Rio de Janeiro, RJ.
2020Cristhiane Oliveira da Graça Amâncio, João Pedro Ribeiro Oliveira, Leonis Junior Santos Silva, Bruna Maria Pereira Ribas, Claudemar Mattos, Ilzo Arthur Moreira, Robson Amâncio · · Brazil (São Paulo)
Among farmers of the Rede CAU (Carioca Urban Agriculture Network) in the Vargem Grande neighborhood of western Rio de Janeiro, data collected from February to December 2019 using the LUME method analyzed production of fruit, vegetables and compost across 8 hectares of land. Total family income was estimated at R$62,632.00, of which 56% (R$38,906.00) came from agricultural income (with the greatest profit from vegetables sold at fairs) and 46% (R$30,726.00) from non-agricultural income (space rental); 65% (R$45,421.53) of total income derived from women's labor (making sweets and dried fruit for sale) and 35% (R$24,210.47) from men's labor (planting and management). The main constraint on improving production was difficult access to the steep, hard-to-reach region and the large distances between subsystems, with optimizing self-production of inputs through composting and mechanizing transport proposed as alternatives.
CommunityEconomicsOrganic cyclePedagogical School Vegetable Gardens: An Educational and Nutritional Concept
2020Caio Tibério Dornelles da Rocha, Luciana Calabró, Diogo O. Souza · · Brazil
A proposal outlines the implementation of technical-pedagogical school gardens in the states of Maranhao and Piaui, Brazil, reviewing Brazil's legal framework on the Right to Adequate Food and Food and Nutrition Security and discussing the main characteristics of a reference school garden. The proposed implementation is a strategy for institutionalizing gardening models in public education institutions serving children and adolescents aged 6 to 14, positioned as the initial step toward establishing a School Vegetable Program for Improving Eating Habits as part of pedagogy aimed at building healthy, sustainable eating habits.
Food educationHealthCommunitySUSTAINABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF AQUAPONICS SYSTEM: A REVIEW
2020Muhammad Asadullah, Shahbaz Nasir Khan, Hafiz M. Safdar, Rana Ammar Aslam, Imran Shaukat · Earth Sciences Pakistan · Global
A review paper on aquaponics, a closed-loop system combining hydroponics and aquaculture, framed as a sustainable-technology response to soil, air and water pollution, global warming, food shortages and droughts. It notes that many studies have focused on small-scale farming for education and indoor decoration rather than commercial urban-scale food production, and highlights how trickling biofilters and plant uptake of aquaculture wastewater improve water and nutrient use efficiency. The paper identifies the central sustainability challenge as balancing optimal organism growth and maximum production output against minimizing effluent discharge to the environment.
CommunityOrganic cycleClimate changeBringing the city to the country? Responsibility, privilege and urban agrarianism in Metro Vancouver
2020Evan Bowness, Hannah Wittman · The Journal of Peasant Studies · Canada
A study advancing the theory of agrarian citizenship—the bundle of rights and responsibilities underpinning the food sovereignty movement—based on interviews with 34 participants engaged in urban agriculture in Metro Vancouver, Canada. It introduces the concept of urban agrarianism, defined as an urban ethic of care for foodlands and, by extension, a relational responsibility to exercise solidarity with those who cultivate and harvest food. The paper argues that urban people, especially those with privilege, should recognize the impacts of their social-ecological metabolism and mobilize for food sovereignty struggles, including for the repatriation of lands stolen through colonial dispossession.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceUrban–rural linkageEmpirical Study on the Multi-Functionality of Urban Agriculture and Creative Classes: Focusing on the Global Cities of Tokyo and Shanghai
2020Lily Kiminami, Shinichi Furuzawa, Akira Kiminami · Studies in Regional Science · Global
This study examines the relationship between the multi-functionality of urban agriculture (MFUA) as a city amenity and creative classes (CCs) in Tokyo and Shanghai, two global cities in Asia. Drawing on existing research on creative classes, multi-functional agriculture, social capital and social business, the authors built a model and tested it using structural equation modeling (SEM) on an original questionnaire survey of residents in both cities. Alongside creative classes defined by traditional creative occupations, the study also examined creative classes based on creative thinking, their orientation toward multi-functional agriculture, and their relationship to social capital.
CommunityEconomicsDigital agricultureUSOS AGRÍCOLAS DO TERRITÓRIO E MERCADOS INSTITUCIONAIS: A COMERCIALIZAÇÃO DE HORTIFRUTIGRANJEIROS NA CIDADE DE NATAL – RIO GRANDE DO NORTE – BRASIL.
2020Rafael Pereira da Silva, Francisco Fransualdo de Azevedo · Revista de Geografia · Brazil
Focusing on Natal, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, this study examines the role of institutional markets — particularly the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) — in commercializing food produced by family farming, drawing on a literature review and PNAE food procurement data from 2013 to 2017. Institutional markets were found to give farmers an alternative outlet for their production, complementing income from open-air markets and potentially reducing the role of intermediaries, but in Natal the PNAE has been underutilized because of problems in its operational structure.
EconomicsPolicyCommunityHorta da Formiga: um laboratório no ecossistema social da agricultura urbana
2020Ana Clara Aparecida Alves de Souza · Revista Brasileira de Casos de Ensino em Administração · Brazil
This teaching case study addresses activism for urban agriculture in an initiative called Horta da Formiga ("the Ant's Garden") in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The initiative is characterized as a social laboratory within the city, and because urban agriculture draws multidisciplinary interest, the case is intended for use across a range of academic fields and disciplines.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageFinding class in food justice efforts
2020Leslie Hossfeld, Brooke Kelly, Julia Waity · · United States
This chapter discusses how the working class in the United States -- including farmworkers and restaurant workers -- engages with the food system as both laborers and consumers, facing precarious working conditions and low pay while also experiencing higher rates of diabetes and obesity linked to a food system that favors sugary foods. It reviews local food movements such as farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture and food sovereignty efforts as responses aimed at food justice, notes criticism that these approaches often primarily serve white, middle-class participants, and surveys initiatives including the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' Fair Food Program, Wholesome Wave and the North Bolivar Good Food Revolution.
Food sovereignty & justiceWelfareCommunityCOVID-19: preguntas frequentes para huertas comunitarias: pasos para encargados de huertas y jardineros
2020Natalie Seymour, Mary Yavelak, Candice Christian, Ben Chapman, Michelle D. Danyluk · EDIS · United States
This is the Spanish-language version of FSHN20-19/FS342, "COVID-19 FAQ for Community Gardens: Steps for Garden Managers and Gardeners," originally written by Natalie Seymour, Mary Yavelak, Candice Christian and Ben Chapman (NC State University Extension) and published by the UF/IFAS Food Science and Human Nutrition Department in April 2020.
CommunityHealthEmpowerment of Urban Farming Community to Improve Food Security in Gresik
2020Pawana Nur Indah, Indra Tjahaja Amir, Umar Khasan · Agriekonomika · Indonesia
This study examines the role of urban farming community empowerment in improving food security in RT 02 and RT 03 of Awikoen village, Gending sub-district, Gresik, Indonesia, using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS) with SmartPLS 3. The results show that the empowerment of urban farming community members had a substantial influence on improving food security in Gending sub-district.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareUnderstanding the effects of the Hobart Apartments student accommodation community garden project - Report One: Leadership and Management
2020Suzanne Mallick, Philip Marsh, Dave Kendal · Figshare · Australia
This report presents the first phase of a research project examining how a community garden project at the Melville St student accommodation could benefit the health and wellbeing of students and the broader community, as part of the University of Tasmania's shift in focus from Sandy Bay to the Hobart CBD. Before the garden was installed, the team collected qualitative, quantitative and observational data through interviews, focus groups, observational studies of public space use and an online survey, intended to inform future management of the site; a second phase collecting post-installation data was planned for late 2020, subject to COVID-19 restrictions.
CommunityHealthWelfareFood educationPROGRAM PEMBERDAYAAN KETAHANAN PANGAN KELUARGA TERHADAP KETERSEDIAAN PANGAN KELUARGA DI DESA BERDAYA
2020Abdullah Abdullah, Indri Nuraeni · Prosiding Hapemas · Indonesia
A family food security empowerment program run by the Desa Berdaya Foundation in Indonesia, funded through Rumah Zakat's ZIS (zakat, infaq and sedekah) funds, operated from April to September 2020 across 60 desa-berdaya sites on the island of Java, prioritizing residents affected by COVID-19. Programs offered included bucket-based fish farming, urban farming, farmer assistance (seeds and fertilizer aid), egg-laying chicken raising, and fisher assistance (seed and feed aid), with aid provided in the form of seeds, tools and materials, alongside regular mentoring and monitoring. A survey of beneficiaries found bucket-based fish farming was the most frequently chosen program at 40%, followed by egg-laying chicken raising at 20%, urban farming at 16%, fisher assistance at 14% and farmer assistance at 10%. Of the 60 respondents surveyed, 100% reported that the family food security program was beneficial.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityFood educationGuía para Cultivar Vegetales en la Florida
2020Sydney Park Brown, Danielle Treadwell, James M. Stephens, Sue Webb, Francisco Rivera · EDIS · United States (Florida)
Home garden planning and development is described as a year-round activity in Florida, United States, offering benefits for physical and emotional health (2020). This guide provides recommendations for home and community gardening, including planting dates, variety selection for crop planning, water and nutrient management, pest management, and harvesting. It is a Spanish-language translation, by Francisco Rivera, of the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (SP103/VH021) by Sydney Park Brown, Danielle Treadwell, J. M. Stephens and Susan Webb, published by the UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department.
CommunityFood educationHuerto escolar como estrategia didáctica en el desarrollo del aprendizaje significativo en el área de agricultura
2020Leyna Karina Tovar-Seijas · Prohominum · Venezuela
A proposed action plan for using a school garden as a didactic strategy in agriculture education at Escuela Básica Bolivariana GC 8 "Piloncito" in Venezuela. A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive field study surveyed a population of 14 teachers, with a sample of 5, using direct observation and a questionnaire. Only 60% of teachers reported sometimes using didactic strategies that encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, while 40% did not use such strategies.
CommunityFood educationModification of Tomato Planting Media to Improve the Quality of Farming Urban Vegetables
2020Wanti Mindari, Widi Wurjani, Purnomo Edi Sasongko · Jurnal Peduli Masyarakat · Indonesia
A community outreach report on urban farming training and planting-media modification for the women farmers' group PKK RT 03/RW 08 in Rewwin, Waru, Sidoarjo, Indonesia, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Planting media mixed soil with non-soil materials (compost, rice husk, cocopeat, manure), with drip irrigation applied twice daily (morning and evening) and NPK fertilizer given as a base dose plus four follow-up applications of 20 g per plant. In a demonstration plot growing tomatoes in 5-kilogram pots, the medium combining soil, compost, husk, and manure produced the highest and best tomato yield compared with mixes lacking one of those components.
CommunityDIYOrganic cycleImplementation of a community garden on a university campus: social inclusion and quality of life
2020Bianca Jacqueline Silva, André de Carvalho Bandeira Mendes · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil
A report on a project to implement a community garden on the Itabira campus of the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) in Brazil. The proposal originated in dialogue with campus workers, and aims through extension actions to engage both the university community and the local population across social, cultural, and environmental dimensions in the garden's management, implementation, and maintenance. Planning stages include awareness-raising and mobilization, a survey of human and material resources, and exchange of experience among participants, with particular attention to including elderly residents in cultivation activities to transmit cultural knowledge and strengthen group bonds. A management team was formed to prepare the physical space and coordinate maintenance, with the garden planned as a space for observation, cultivation, and leisure.
CommunityElderlyHealthFood educationReasons for Gardens
2020Camille T. Dungy · Ecotone · Global
An essay by poet Camille T. Dungy arguing that every politically engaged person should have a garden, recommending that those without access to land join or organize a community garden, or grow plants in containers in whatever space is available. The essay contends that a garden's constancy and the patience required for it to grow are key to sustaining political engagement, concluding that a garden is never wasted space.
CommunityDIYGrowing for Sydney: Exploring the Urban Food System through Farmers’ Social Networks
2020Jessica Ann Diehl · Sustainability · Australia
Semi-structured interviews with 15 commercial urban farmers in Sydney, Australia, guided by questions based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, examined how farmers access tangible and intangible resources through social networks within the urban food system. Three patterns emerged: urban-local, rural-local, and urban-global networks used in pursuit of sustainable livelihoods. The study concludes that land is only one driver, among many, of the sustainability of the local food system.
CommunityUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agriculture“Putting thecultincultivate”: a rhetoric of guerrilla gardening inGreen Valentine
2020Lili Pâquet · Green Letters · Australia
A literary analysis examines Australian author Lili Wilkinson's 2015 young adult romance novel Green Valentine, in which two teenage protagonists rebel against their local council through guerrilla gardening. The article argues that this illegal activity functions as a political protest standing in for the protagonists' voices, silenced in public debate about the environmental future despite being too young to vote, and concludes that the novel's rhetoric of gardening underscores the importance of community and political action in stopping capitalist production of spaces that impair the environmental future.
CommunityPolicyAfrican leafy vegetables go back to school
2020Aurillia Manjella, Alessandra Grasso, Victor W. Wasike · · Africa
A report on the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition project in Busia county, western Kenya, describes school gardens that supply or complement school feeding programmes as a practice for mobilizing biodiversity and improving dietary diversity among schoolchildren. Kenya is said to have more than 200 African leafy vegetables (ALVs), and the project gives children opportunities to acquire agricultural skills focused on cultivating nutrient-rich ALVs; the report notes that school gardening has long been part of education in Kenya, especially in rural areas dating to colonial times.
Food educationBiodiversityHealthCommunityiZindaba Zokudla: A conversation about food systems change in South Africa
2020Naudé Malan · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · South Africa
A reflective essay revisits iZindaba Zokudla (IZ), a multistakeholder engagement project in Johannesburg, South Africa, aiming to create opportunities for urban agriculture within a sustainable food system. IZ runs the Farmers' Lab, a social lab used as a transitional mechanism toward sustainability, and the essay argues that significant stakeholder integration is needed to move South Africa's urban food system toward ecological soundness, economic productivity and social equity. It details the project's history from 2013 to the present, its creation of a social-lab-based ecosystem, the applied research opportunities it has generated at universities, and the resulting changes to agroecological practice in Johannesburg.
CommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justice