Research & reports

Shawn Teresa Flanigan, Roli Varma · Community Work & Family · United States (New Mexico)

This study investigated the effectiveness of methods used by nutrition educators to promote the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) community garden project in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. A survey of 257 clients from five clinics found that less than 30% of clients had been exposed to the project, and caseload was unrelated to the promotion methods used. However, clients exposed to any method of promotion were more likely to garden than those not exposed, and importantly, clients reported eating more vegetables after being exposed to the project.

Julie Guthman, Amy Wilson Morris, Patricia Allen · Rural Sociology · United States (California)

Survey and interview research conducted in California during 2004–2005 examined the extent to which CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and farmers' markets address food security. Managers of these institutions generally supported the idea of improving food affordability and most made efforts to do so, though these efforts varied with institutional capacity. Some managers tempered their interest in supporting food security goals with concerns such as the primary need to support farmers.

Patricia Allen, Julie Guthman, Amy Wilson Morris · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · United States (California)

A research brief examining whether alternative food initiatives (AFIs) such as community supported agriculture (CSA) and farmers' markets can meet the food security needs of low-income consumers, based on interviews and surveys of farmers' market and CSA managers throughout California. The authors conclude that AFIs are not, and cannot be, substitutes for state entitlements in meeting the food security needs of low-income people.

Juliana Portela do Rego Monteiro, Maria do Socorro Lira Monteiro · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Brazil

A study of 43 urban gardens in Teresina, Piauí state, Brazil, analyzed via primary data collection and field research whether the gardens function as a means of generating work and income and improving socioeconomic conditions without degrading the environment. Most gardeners were women over 45 with incomplete elementary education, earning up to one minimum wage, originally from the state's interior, who had worked in agriculture before joining the gardens and worked them as a family. Most had not participated in training since entering the program, used their own resources for production, concentrated 70.08% of output on cilantro, chives and lettuce, and sold produce mainly on-site; soil amendment relied mostly on manure with limited chemical fertilizer, and only 36.81% of gardeners used pesticides. The study concludes that low remuneration, stemming from limited crop diversity, poor organization and lack of financing, led some family members to seek alternative income.

Nicholaus K Harris · · United States (California)

An assessment in West Oakland, California, evaluated new community food programs — community gardens, mobile markets and local farmers markets — that went beyond typical food banks to address food insecurity. In spring 2005, the researcher interviewed program leaders and 45 West Oakland residents. Results showed residents were generally aware of how to eat healthily but unable to do so because of limited proximity to vendors stocking healthy foods; many used the farmers market, but few relied on the other community food programs, and residents living close to the farmers market and community gardens benefited more than those elsewhere. The study concludes that educational campaigns and the placement of additional food programs are needed to improve access.

Fernando Neira Orjuela · · Mexico

This study focuses on San Luis Tlaxialtemalco, a town of 12,553 people in the Xochimilco delegation in southern Mexico City. Because the town practices urban agriculture, a survey of 185 households provided an opportunity to examine whether greenhouses are a viable option for generating household income, and the forms of family economic participation and sexual division of labor that shape this. The study also sought to clarify whether access to economic resources, age, and schooling grant wives the final say in household decision-making and freedom of movement, comparing them with wives engaged in salaried and non-salaried non-agricultural activities.

Roberta M. Feldman, Susan Stall · Cambridge University Press eBooks · United States

This paper explores the concept of the community household through the case of Mrs. Mary Rias, a resident activist at Wentworth Gardens. Mrs. Rias, who coordinated and worked in a community garden for over a decade, is depicted as extending her caretaking and nurturing roles from her home into the community, often meeting neighbors' needs within her residence. This case illustrates mutual support and family-like relationships within the community.

Prebus, Olivia · Occidental College Scholar (Occidental College) · United States (Los Angeles)

This work addresses the gross inequity of food access in low-income neighborhoods of Los Angeles, such as MacArthur Park, where grocery stores are scarce. The author's internship at the Center for Food and Justice involved projects like a Community Food Assessment and organizing a community garden, all focused on empowering communities to tackle complex food access issues. The abstract highlights the severe problem of limited healthy food options leading to simultaneous obesity and malnutrition.

J. S. [UNESP] Gonçalves, S. A. A. dos [UNESP] Santos, F. F. CURADO · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil (Corumbá)

This work, part of the "Food Security and Citizenship" project coordinated by Embrapa Pantanal in Corumbá and Ladário, Brazil, aims to promote healthy food production. It seeks to improve the food quality of the urban population by creating alternatives for better food and nutritional security and income generation in these areas.

Kathryn E. Waitkus · Pepperdine Digital Commons (Pepperdine University) · United States

Prison physical environments and social climates have been found to be physically and mentally stressful for inmates, and more than 70% of those in the California prison system return to prison within three years of parole. As part of an effort to reduce this recidivism, a rehabilitative gardening program was started at San Quentin State Prison, and this primarily qualitative study set out to determine the garden project's impact on the physical environment and social climate of a prison yard from both inmate and staff perspectives, through interviews with inmate program participants, an inmate control group, and prison staff conducted before and after the garden was planted. The evidence suggested that (a) gardens invited attention, use, and refuge; (b) being in or near a garden could reduce stress; (c) gardens might provide "neutral" territory in a segregated prison yard; (d) inmate participants gained benefits from directly working with nature; (e) gardens created the possibility for hope and further change; and (f) prison staff were generally more concerned about the impact of the change than the inmates themselves. Inmate and staff expectations about the garden's impact were met or exceeded, leading to recommendations to use the Garden Program to build collaboration, trust, and respect between inmates and staff through active staff participation in classes, to expand the program to other California prisons, and to have paroled inmates collaborate with local communities on community gardens. Limitations included a reduction in program scale during the planning stages and the short time elapsed between pre- and post-garden research; the authors suggest a longitudinal study to track impact on inmates after parole.

Kluthe, Ryan · Occidental College Scholar (Occidental College) · United States

This paper presents observations of 13 teens in the Youth Leadership Council of Highland Park, United States, who dedicated hundreds of hours to community projects without individual incentive. These observations contradict Mancur Olsen's theory that groups only organize under coercion or special devices, suggesting the existence of "community interested" individuals.

Lorie Hammond · Mind Culture and Activity · United States (California)

This article uses a narrative format to describe situations in which Mienh immigrant families from a Southeast Asian hill tribe adapt to technological and cultural change within a California elementary school sponsoring a family literacy, school-community garden, and house building project. It argues that adjustments can be creative and empowering if schools incorporate community "funds of knowledge" into their instructional plan. Projects such as gardening and house building provide rich contexts for intercultural dialogues.

Cynthia M. Hellman · School for International Training Digital Collections (School for International Training) · United States

A phenomenological interview study of 10 Vermont CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farmers, combined with observation of sessions involving farmers, community-based organizations and low-income community members, addressing how Vermont CSA farmers can effectively incorporate members of the low-income community. The findings show that effective incorporation requires farmers to collaborate with community-based and non-profit organizations, treat the low-income community as a resource, enlist support from the wider community, and become part of a "food justice" movement.

C. Clare Hinrichs, Kathy S. Kremer · Journal of Poverty · United States

This 1997 case study examined a Midwest community supported agriculture (CSA) project that aimed to increase low-income participation through financial subsidies, using a telephone survey of 41 member-households. The study found that while subsidized households had lower incomes, the overall CSA sample was more advantaged in income, occupation, and education compared to local populations. The project inadvertently served the "advantaged" poor, indicating that social inclusion efforts in local food systems may not effectively reach the most vulnerable.

Regina Day Langhout, Julian Rappaport, Doretha Simmons · Urban Education · United States

This article addresses tensions in facilitating the relationship between teachers and community members while working on a community garden project. The authors adopt an ecological model for effective classroom-community collaboration and discuss how this process unfolded in their setting, presenting two classroom projects as examples of culturally relevant classroom-community collaboration. The garden project is evaluated using classroom-community collaboration models, including a discussion of teachers' and community members' shared and differing goals and how those differences were navigated in practice.

John Ferris, Carol Norman, Joe Sempik · Social Policy and Administration · USA

This article reports on research and experience from the USA regarding community gardens and their role in the social dimension of sustainable development. It explores how the use of urban green spaces for gardens links to health, education, community development, and food security. The article concludes that using urban open spaces for parks and gardens is closely associated with environmental justice and equity.

Melford Mj W. Gunderson · UND Scholarly Commons (University of North Dakota) · United States

A study of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and the community of Elbowoods, North Dakota (2001) describes the social disorganization and community upheaval inflicted on Native Americans by the 1954 construction of the Garrison Dam by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Flooding of thousands of acres stripped Elbowoods residents of farmland, natural shelter for people and cattle, family structure, community gardens, and a way of life that had existed for thousands of years. Drawing primarily on interviews with ten former Elbowoods residents, supplemented by newspapers, published reports, photographs, video, and congressional records, and framed through social disorganization and community theory, the study documents that the dam's construction and the resulting relocation devastated the community and forced residents to cope with and adapt to a "loss of community."

Andres Dasso, Teobaldo Pinzas · · Peru

In Lima, Peru, a city with an infertile sandy environment and 0.0 mm average rainfall, urban agriculture has been implemented since the late 1980s to improve the living conditions of the resource-poor urban population. This initiative addresses the rapid urban growth experienced by Lima between the 1950s and 1990s, primarily due to migration.

Donna Armstrong · The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care · United States

This study aimed to design a culturally appropriate diabetes education program for a Northwest American Indian tribe. A community-based intervention, including workshops on health themes and a community garden, was designed to address multiple barriers to diabetes care. However, prior to the implementation of the community workshops and evaluations, the tribal government chose to discontinue receiving federal funding for this project.

Lorie Hammond · · United States (California)

This study applies an anthropological approach to science teaching at a mainstream California elementary school, focusing on inter-cultural dialogue between Mien refugee families from Laos and mainstream educators. Using a family literacy project and a school-community garden, the research explores how traditional cultural knowledge and Western scientific knowledge can blend to develop curricula for science and literacy. The paper emphasizes dialogue where minority and majority voices co-create curricula, contrasting with standard parent involvement models.

Bryan Zinschlag · · United States

This case study examines the City Soil Network (CSN), a community garden organization comprising seventeen garden sites in Portland, Oregon, thirteen of them in Northeast Portland — an area with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination. Methods combined content analysis of organizational publications, participant observation at four Northeast Portland garden sites, and interviews with eleven CSN members representing all three levels of involvement in the organization. Recent gentrification in Northeast Portland has disproportionately displaced African Americans and other historically marginalized residents, and the author argues that the CSN has so far failed to engage the residents who stand to benefit most from involvement.

Jan L. Flora, Robert Karp, Shelly Gradwell · Iowa State University Digital Repository (Iowa State University) · United States

A 1999 article introduces the "Field to Family Community Food Project," which began in Iowa, US, in 1997. The project was intended to support the "Magic Beanstalk" community supported agriculture (CSA) initiative — a local food system in which farmers provide fresh food, fiber, and related products directly to area consumers — by forming partnerships with churches, social service organizations, Iowa State University, and other community groups.

Laura L. Lawson · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · United States (California)

A 1995 article on the "BYA Community Garden Patch," a community garden started in 1993 by Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA) on a half-acre former railroad right-of-way in West Berkeley, California, US. The garden — which includes a children's garden, demonstration garden, outdoor classroom, compost area, and entrepreneurial youth garden — was planned through bilingual design workshops involving teens, their parents, neighbors, BYA board members, and city officials. BYA employs and trains 10 teens in park landscape maintenance at the site.

Laura Lawson, Marcia J. McNally · · United States (California)

A paper proposing new methods for layering utility and maximizing benefit to teens and the community by including teens' needs in the planning and maintenance of urban open space. It discusses two programs run by Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA)—the BYA Youth Employment Landscape Program and the BYA Community Garden Patch—that attract youth through employment, providing at-risk teens with income, job training, safe after-school activity, and self-esteem, presenting program descriptions and evaluation to inform future similar projects.

Ishwarbhai C. Patel · HortTechnology · United States

The Rutgers Urban Gardening (RUG) program in the United States fosters cultural diversity by employing six ethnic minority workers and reaching over 30 ethnic groups through various educational programs. It creates an environment where people can connect, share concerns, and solve problems, bridging social, economic, cultural, and racial barriers.