Research & reports

Manuel J. Ibarra, Irwin Estrada Torres, Mario Aquino Cruz, Ronald A. Rentería Ayquipa, Sergio F. Ochoa, Juan Ochoa · Sensors · Peru

This article presents an experience report of family-scale urban gardening in Peru, where a prototype IoT system and mobile application were conceived, implemented, and used, considering the cultural aspects of the gardeners. This experience yielded positive results in tomato production, primarily demonstrating the system's capability to self-adapt its behavior to the cultivation conditions of these urban gardeners. This is the first IoT system known to iteratively adjust its behavior to improve adoption chances by a specific end-user population (gardeners).

Pamela Arnette Broom, Yuki Kato, Shawn “Pepper” Roussel · Humanity & Society · United States

This article examines the history of urban gardening by Black communities in New Orleans, United States. It uses oral history to complement official documentation, demonstrating that Black New Orleanians historically grew their own food for collective efficacy and to pass on horticultural knowledge. The study notes that most new gardens since 2010 lack cultural and social connection to this history.

Alexandra Zink, Paul J. CaraDonna, Kelly Larsen, Amy M. Iler · Ecosphere · United States (Chicago)

This study investigated how urbanization relates to pollination by growing 240 plants (squash and tomato) across six sites with varying urbanization levels in Chicago, Illinois. For tomatoes, the magnitude of pollen limitation increased with greater impervious surface, indicating more pronounced pollination deficits at highly urbanized sites. For squash, evidence of pollen limitation was found only at the most urban site, with a weak trend of pollen limitation of fruit set (but not seed set) increasing with impervious surface.

Logman Arja · International Journal of Architectural Computing · United States

This paper presents clay 3D-printed hydroponics as an urban farming and architecture proposal, reporting on a pilot study conducted in Atlanta, Georgia. It positions additively manufactured clay hydroponics as a soilless agriculture technique and discusses it in relation to urban food self-sufficiency. The paper is described as the first in a series on technology implementations.

Marcelo Macedo Guimarães, Mariluce Paes de Souza · Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental · Brazil

A qualitative study of a Conservation Unit in the Brazilian Amazon (the Lago do Cuniã Extractive Reserve) analyzing the role of forests within the water-energy-food nexus, focusing on how traditional populations use non-wood natural resources for their survival. Data were collected through questionnaire-based interviews and non-participant observation. The results show that maintaining forest resources improves water quality, controls erosion and resilience against droughts and floods, contributes to energy supply, and contributes to food safety for residents of the conservation unit. The authors note policy implications for management practices to conserve forests and to protect the quantity and quality of rivers, lakes, and aquatic and agricultural ecosystems in the reserve.

Eva Coringrato, Katherine Alaimo, Jenn A. Leiferman, Angel Villalobos, Hannah Buchenau, Erin Decker, Lara Fahnestock, Pallas Quist, Jill Litt · Scientific Reports · United States

A process evaluation of the Community Activation for Prevention (CAPS) randomized controlled trial assessed implementation of a nine-month community gardening intervention in the United States using semi-structured interviews, direct observation of garden sites, and an exit survey. The trial enrolled 291 participants (19% non-white, 34% Hispanic/Latino, 58% with income under $50,000/year); among 145 assigned to gardening, 97 (67%) gardened the full season with a median visit time of 90 minutes per week, and of the 48% who completed the exit survey, 89% reported high satisfaction. Garden social events were offered at 73% of gardens but attended by only 48% of intervention participants; the evaluation concluded the intervention was delivered with high fidelity.

Alessandro Silva de Oliveira, Gustavo Carvalho da Rocha Lima Martins, Gonzalo Oviedo, Lucas José de Oliveira Gomes · Revista Tecnia · Brazil

A 2024 paper reports on an educational practice with elementary school students at a community garden at IFG-Anápolis, Brazil, framed around "omnilateral formation" and critical environmental education. Through periodic visits, workshops, and discussion sessions, the practice addressed problems arising from the use and consumption of pesticides in food. It reports that the critical environmental education approach was significant in revealing the latent meanings behind an agribusiness food market based on unrestrained pesticide use.

Carol E. Ramos-Gerena, Allison DeHonney, Shireen Guru, Rachel Grandits, Insha Akram, Samina Raja · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This article examines the Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship (SEBF) program, co-founded by community and academic organizations in Buffalo, NY in 2022, which supported residents of Buffalo's Black neighborhoods in growing their own food, emerging as urban agriculture leaders, and engaging in urban agriculture policy advocacy. The authors, who are co-founders or team members of SEBF, draw on field notes and qualitative interviews with SEBF growers to reflect on lessons from this pilot program. Key lessons for policy change identified are that programs must be rooted in community history, pedagogical strategies must be tailored to local context, and long-term relationships must be fostered.

Nova Southeastern University · NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) · United States

A description of the "Get Well" Community Garden and Eat Well Project — the Community Health Intervention Program in Neighborhood Gardens (CHIPING) — in the United States. The project's stated aim is to determine whether providing community gardens in diverse low-income neighborhoods promotes health by increasing knowledge of healthier food choices and increasing access to foods rich in micronutrients.

Eduardo Chierrito de Arruda, Gabriela Costa Alves, Catherine Menegaldi Silva, Barbara Macedo Soares de Araujo, Rute Grossi Milani · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil

A study in Brazil used the Affective Map Generator Instrument to interview 40 community garden users aged 45 to 80 about their emotional experiences during gardening activities. Analysis of the images produced showed that experiences in these gardens were mediated by feelings of pleasantness, belonging and restoration, with connection to nature and social interaction as the most cited senses.

Adriana Martins da Silva Bastos Conceição, Márcia Bento Moreira, Hélder Ribeiro Freitas · Peer Review · Brazil

A study in the Território de Identidade do Vale do Jiquiriçá, Bahia, Brazil surveyed municipal agriculture-department professionals through an online questionnaire (stages I and III) and field research (stage II). Online questionnaires initially identified only 12 urban and peri-urban agriculture experiences, but field visits raised that count to 62 active experiences. Stage III data showed professionals lack understanding of the urban agriculture concept and its potential, and that the legal provisions regulating the practice need much wider dissemination for implementation; the data indicate that urban agriculture in the territory's municipalities goes largely unnoticed and is not addressed in public policy.

· Corporate Philanthropy Report · United States

The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sprouts Farmers Market in the United States, awarded $4 million to neighborhood elementary schools and local nonprofits through its annual grants program, funded partly by customer checkout round-up donations. Individual grants ranged from $5,000 to $10,000 across three categories: Sprouting School Gardens for school-based gardening programs, Growing Healthy Kids for community-based children's nutrition programs, and Wellness Across the Lifespan for adult health and wellness programs. The foundation has awarded more than $25 million in such grants since 2015.

Cody Gusto, Catherine Campbell, Annie Wallau, Wendy Wood · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

With Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension educators in the United States seeking new audiences amid reduced enrollment and a lack of unified vision, workplace wellness and education programs are identified as an emerging opportunity, particularly to complement workplace Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs that connect local farmers and employees via employer-sponsored cost-offsets. A study assessed potential workplace wellness program participants' perceived knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to purchasing and cooking local food, and their preferred information types and program format, to guide development of a local food health and wellness education program. Respondents had positive attitudes about local food but limited knowledge of how to purchase and prepare it. They indicated that information on those topics, plus information on unusual locally grown fruits and vegetables and reducing food waste, would be most useful, and preferred online program offerings during weekday lunchtimes.

Miguel Angelo Rodrigues, Silvia Adriana da Silva Soares, A. F. V. BISCARO, R. V. MARTINS, Rafael C. Dutra · Editora Científica Digital eBooks · Brazil

This report documents an interdisciplinary school activity in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, built around the Agrinho program and centered on urban, social and sustainable agriculture. Activities included classroom discussion, a video, a body-mass-index exercise linking math and science, visits to organic and hydroponic garden beds from bed preparation to fertilizing, and a closing essay; the report states that cross-disciplinary integration and partnerships with the municipal agriculture department were key to the activities' success.

Iara Rafaela Gomes · Sociedade & natureza · Brazil

A study examining agricultural activity, in particular family farming, in the Fortaleza Metropolitan Area (FMA) of Ceará State, Brazil. Drawing on primary and secondary data on producer profiles and agricultural and food-processing establishments in the region, it identifies key issues in production and food systems within the FMA. The study presents the production strategies used by family farmers, the challenges they face, and opportunities they identify, and argues that examining agriculture in metropolitan areas links socio-spatial and socio-environmental problems and points toward cross-sectoral public policy.

Breno Giordane dos Santos Costa, Marcelo de Rezende Pinto · Revista Economia & Gestão · Brazil

An exploratory qualitative study using practice theory examined a community garden in the city of Betim, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Individuals involved in producing and consuming food from the urban community garden reported two categories of positive change: health as a tangible benefit and general well-being as an intangible benefit.

Kimberley Hodgson · Urban agriculture · United States

A critical examination of urban agriculture governance in Seattle, Washington, USA, tracing the geographic, social, agricultural and governmental context of city policy. Seattle established its P-Patch community gardening program in 1973, and grassroots and community organizations have worked on food production and food security since the early 1970s, but the city government did not begin systemic policy engagement until the early 2000s. Using a critical lens, the chapter examines key policies - including urban agriculture zoning regulations and the Local Food Action Plan - and projects such as the Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands Project, to assess the impact of urban agriculture policy on racial, social and health equity.

Lydia Bonney · · United States

Drawing on newspaper articles, books, scholarly journals, websites and one self-conducted interview, this paper examines several urban agriculture programs across Detroit's history. Analysis of past successes and failures of these programs argues that investing in urban agriculture today could address problems the city has long faced. The paper concludes that Detroit's particular landscape, community, and spatial disparities give it potential to become a world leader in urban agriculture.

Samina Raja, Subhashni Raj, Carol E. Ramos-Gerena · Urban agriculture · United States

This book chapter, part of a volume honoring urban planning scholar Jerome Kaufman's legacy, examines the extent to which local, regional and metropolitan governments in the United States engage with urban agriculture policy through an equity-centered, ethically grounded lens, summarizing a collection of perspectives on municipal policy from scholars and policy practitioners nationwide. While urban agriculture has become increasingly recognized as a space for local government engagement since Kaufman's call to action, the authors conclude that municipal governments continue to struggle to center questions of equity and ethics in their policymaking, even as they claim a progressive approach toward urban agriculture.

Miriam Elizabeth Mery-Ruiz, Gabriela Carmona Ochoa, Areli Lopez-Montelongo · Apple Academic Press eBooks · Mexico

Focusing on the Alameda Zaragoza district in Saltillo, Mexico, this study investigates the relationship between urban morphology and sustainability in the built environment. It used an ethnographic methodology involving qualitative social media research, collecting images and text through Microsoft Bing word searches and analyzing them with nubedepalabras software to identify semantic networks. The findings show that online communities' urban imaginaries offer insights into sustainability strategies, and the study recommends expanding the analysis to other case studies and including search results in additional languages.

Sonnur Öztürk, Michelle Forsythe · Journal of Agricultural Education · United States

A pilot instructional intervention on permaculture was implemented within an elementary science methods course for preservice teachers (PSTs) in the United States. The intervention had four components — background readings and videos, guided discussion, a food forest design activity, and a lesson plan analysis activity — with data drawn from pre/post-tests, the lesson analysis activity, and daily reflections. After the intervention, PSTs self-reported higher knowledge of permaculture topics and ways to use permaculture in their classrooms, and effectively linked permaculture-based lesson plans to elementary learning standards. PSTs viewed permaculture-based lessons positively as active, real-life learning experiences supporting environmental consciousness, but identified cost and time as barriers to classroom implementation, and viewed the developmental appropriateness and spatial resources required as both advantages and disadvantages.

K. O. das G. DIAS, M. C. UZEDA, A. C. A. [UNESP] Alves, M. dos S. F. R. de AZEVEDO · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil

In mid-2021, a 400 m² "productive backyard" (quintal produtivo) was set up at the Fazendinha Agroecológica km 47 in Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, run jointly by Embrapa, UFRRJ, and PESAGRO-Rio, with four subareas for vegetables, unconventional food plants (PANC), fruit trees and annual crops, and egg-laying hens. Food production recorded over six months of 2021 demonstrated the plot's potential to counter food insecurity by supplying a healthy, diversified diet and generating extra household income through the sale of surplus produce.

Anne Kerber, Ivana Guarrasi, Hsinhuei Sheen Chiou, Sabrina Ehmke, Kristi Oeding, Sachi Sekimoto · Health Communication · United States

Drawing on the Garden EngAGEment community garden project at Minnesota State University, Mankato, this article develops the concept of "artful place-making" as an alternative, experiential approach to organizing and teaching care for people with Alzheimer's and related dementias, using arts-based research, place-based education, and sensory studies. It describes the interplay of knowing, making, and being in the garden as fostering a new culture of care in health professions training, multi-sensory connection, and personal, relational, and community transformation.

Xanath Bautista-Villalobos, Eduardo Garcı́a-Frapolli · Hábitat y Sociedad · Mexico

Two community urban gardens in Mexico City were analyzed through the lenses of agroecology, the social and solidarity economy, and social innovation. Working with garden administrators and key participants, the researchers defined participatory indicators and ran workshops to gauge local perceptions of how the gardens function. Both initiatives were viewed positively by their communities, though few residents were actually involved. Most evaluated variables scored satisfactorily, but aspects such as the source and use of water, income distribution within the community, and the creation of communal budgets had not met their objectives.

Emily Harris, Ilana Lowe, Lindsey Mohan, Whitney Cohen, Sara E. Severance, Terra Giotta, Carlo Albano, Jeffrey Snowden · Science and Children · United States

This is a practice report describing "Designing Trellises," a guided grade 3-5 engineering unit set in a U.S. school garden. Students work collaboratively toward a shared classroom goal of designing, researching, prototyping, building, and testing 2-3 pea plant trellises for the school garden. Through this process — asking questions, planning and carrying out investigations, and designing solutions, among other science and engineering practices — students work out the disciplinary core ideas of balanced and unbalanced forces. At the end of the unit, teachers and students reported that students felt a strong sense of agency and pride from asking and answering questions and creating designs that mattered to them and their school community.