Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
626 results(19 / 26)
Local food networks as catalysts for food policy change to improve health and build the economy
2014Richard C. Sadler, Godwin Arku, Jason Gilliland · Local Environment · United States (Flint)
This study examined local food networks (LFNs) and a food policy council (FPC) in Flint, Michigan, a post-industrial city facing food access issues. Participant observation with stakeholders revealed support for community gardens, farmers' markets, and urban agriculture. Based on the synthesis of stakeholder opinions, policy recommendations were developed to aid in the continued planning of the LFN.
PolicyHealthEconomicsCommunityThe Civic Life of Food Production
2014Jeanne Simonelli, Stephanie Paladino · Culture Agriculture Food and Environment · United States
This issue focuses on the movement to reintegrate food production into the civic, moral, and economic life of communities. Specifically, it highlights a qualitative study on the perceived benefits of community gardening in Baltimore, Maryland. The study explores the benefits to individuals, neighborhoods, and the city, suggesting these can be used as urban planning tools for developing healthy urban environments.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsCSA & TeikeiUrban–rural linkageThe Potential of Urban Agriculture in Montréal: A Quantitative Assessment
2014Daniel Haberman, Laura A. Gillies, Aryeh Canter, Valentine Rinner, Laetitia Pancrazi, Federico Martellozzo · ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information · Canada
This study used multiple land use scenarios to assess different spaces in Montréal, including residential gardens, industrial rooftops, and vacant land, that could be allocated to vegetable production. Results indicated that implementing hydroponics on industrial rooftops could easily satisfy Montréal's vegetable demand, though these operations are generally costly. Utilizing only vacant space also has the potential to meet the city's demand with lower operating costs.
Economic viabilityEconomicsPolicyUrban–rural linkageThe Impact of Selected Socioeconomic Factors on Residents’ Perceptions of Benefits of Community Gardens
2014Nii O. Tackie, Nakia C. McCallum, Leonard Githinji, Desmond G. Mortley, Goppal P. Reddy, Jannette R. Bartlett, Prosper K. Doamekpor, Togo M. Traore · Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development · United States (Alabama)
This study assessed the impact of selected socioeconomic factors on residents' perceptions of community garden benefits in Macon County, Alabama. Data from a convenience sample of 217 participants, collected via questionnaire, showed that at least 73% agreed with nutritional, health, and community benefits. Age, education, and annual household income had statistically significant effects on these perceptions.
CommunityHealthEconomicsAlternative Food Projects, Localization and Neoliberal Urban Development
2014Pascale Joassart‐Marcelli, Fernando J. Bosco · Métropoles · United States (California)
This article explores the growth of local food practices in urban southern California, focusing on farmers' markets. While alternative food initiatives like farmers' markets are often seen as resistance to capitalist pressures, this research provides evidence that they have become increasingly popular among affluent and white urban residents. This finding challenges the claim that local food fosters democracy and justice, indicating that these initiatives can reproduce neoliberal urban agendas and reshape cities along lines of race and class.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceAn Approach to Assessing Multicity Implementation of Healthful Food Access Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes
2014Laura Oliven Silberfarb, Sonja Savre, Gayle Geber · Preventing Chronic Disease · United States (Hennepin County)
Hennepin County assessed the extent to which 41 cities were engaged in making policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes to increase residents' access to healthful food. Results revealed that some cities, particularly those with higher resident demand for healthful food, are making nationally recommended PSE changes, such as sponsoring farmers markets. However, cities moved more slowly to make changes in areas with perceived negative cost consequences or lesser public demand, such as parks and recreation vending.
Economic viabilityPolicyHealthCommunityEconomicsBringing Food Back Home: Revitalizing the Postindustrial American City Through State and Local Policies Promoting Urban Agriculture
2014Elizabeth Berg · Scholars' Bank (University of Oregon) · United States
State and local policies promoting urban agriculture contribute to revitalizing postindustrial American cities. Urban food systems encompass aspects of producing, processing, marketing, distributing, and consuming food, providing a multiplicity of benefits and services for local residents. These benefits include improved access to outdoor recreation, economic vitality, health and wellbeing, landscape beautification, and environmental restoration.
PolicyEconomicsHealthCommunityUrban Agriculture Policy Making in New York’s “New Political Spaces”
2014Nevin Cohen, Kristin Reynolds · Journal of Planning Education and Research · United States (New York City)
This article examines urban agriculture (UA) policy-making processes in New York City, focusing on aspects of UA not fully addressed by existing policies, plans, and research strategies. Interviews with UA stakeholders and an analysis of the city’s UA policy-making processes show that resource needs and race- and class-based disparities within the UA system persist.
Equity & displacementPolicyCommunityEconomicsChartering Worcester's Success
2014Benjamin Drury, Renee Laliberte, Jared Watson, Connor Wilgress · Digital WPI · United States (Worcester)
The city of Worcester, MA, faces health issues due to economic instability and low access to affordable healthy food. While urban farming has the potential to address these problems, the city lacks an effective policy.
Governance failureHealthEconomicsPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceDoes Organic Command a Premium When the Food is Already Local?
2014Cristina Connolly, H. Allen Klaiber · American Journal of Agricultural Economics · United States
This study used a hedonic model with firm-level prices and CSA characteristics from 453 CSA farms in Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania during the summer 2012 growing season to value CSA attributes. Results showed a price premium of approximately 7% for USDA organic certification, though this varied by state, but no premium for competing certified naturally grown programs. CSA farms exhibited little market power and appeared to act competitively.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceEizenberg, Efrat. 2013. From the ground up: community gardens in New York City and the politics of spatial transformation. Farnham: Ashgate. Reviewed by Matt W. Murray
2014Matt Murray · Journal of Political Ecology · United States (New York City)
Efrat Eizenberg's book "From the Ground Up" explores New York City's community gardens as spaces that resist the commodification of land. The book details the history of these gardens, including their emergence during the 1970s economic crisis when primarily Black and Hispanic residents transformed vacant land into communal green spaces. As the real estate market recovered in the 1980s, land values increased, and many gardens were threatened by gentrification pressures. Eizenberg analyzes these transformations at individual, collective, and institutional levels, highlighting how gardeners create common spaces, solidify interpersonal ties, and organize to defend their gardens.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsMinnesota’s Community Supported Agriculture
2014Alexandra Jeanne Hiniker · Digital Commons - Hamline (Hamline University) · United States
This study surveyed Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in Minnesota, asking farm owners and operators about demographics, farm specifics, and marketing practices. Results indicate that Minnesota's CSA community is robust and diverse in its offerings. It was found that face-to-face communication is preferred above all else to support farm activities.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsAbordagem Complexa e Desenvolvimento Local por meio do Turismo Solidário: o caso da rede “Brasilidade Solidária”
2014Rafael Ângelo Fortunato, Elza Neffa · Revista Turismo em Análise · Brazil
This article reflects on the potential of solidarity tourism for local development, analyzing the "Horta Comunitária do Morro da Coroa" community garden in Brazil. Based on a literature review, phenomenology, and one year of participant observation, the study identified the potential of the "6Vs" of solidarity tourism as pillars for a new concept. It also found that network formation, as proposed, is an important instrument for political action aimed at strengthening local development initiatives.
CommunityEconomics‘We don’t have no neighbourhood’: Advanced marginality and urban agriculture in Detroit
2013Paul Joseph Draus, Juliette Roddy, Anthony McDuffie · Urban Studies · United States (Detroit)
Based on 20 qualitative interviews with people working or living in a heavily depopulated section of Detroit slated for an urban agriculture project, this paper examines residents' views of the project, which proposes using vacant land and marginalized residents to produce marketable products. Most respondents had little hope for neighborhood improvement and few expectations that urban agriculture would change daily life, viewing some efforts with suspicion. Drawing on concepts of advanced marginality and neighborhood effects, the authors argue idealistic urban agriculture efforts must do more to engage residents and address legacies of displacement.
CommunityEconomicsCrop physiological response across the Chicago metropolitan region: Developing recommendations for urban and peri-urban farmers in the North Central US
2013Ross K. Wagstaff, Sam E. Wortman · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Chicago)
This study measures atmospheric pollutants, microclimatic factors, and the physiological response and yield of vegetable crops across an urban-to-rural transect of six sites in the greater Chicago region, aiming to determine their relative influence on urban food production. Preliminary 2013 data suggest substantial variability in environmental factors and crop yield across the transect, and the work aims to establish practical crop and cultivar recommendations for urban and peri-urban farmers in the North Central US.
EconomicsDeterminants of vacant lot conversion into community gardens: evidence from Philadelphia
2013In Kwon Park, Patricia Ciorici · International Journal of Urban Sciences · United States (Philadelphia)
This study in Philadelphia, United States, identified determinants of vacant lot conversion into community gardens using a logit model. Data on lot attributes were collected from the Philadelphia Neighbourhood Information System and a city-wide survey. The results indicate that neighborhood characteristics like poverty level, educational attainment, zoning, and owner occupancy, along with parcel characteristics such as ownership and topography, significantly impact the conversion.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsThe Moral Economy Is a Double‐edged Sword: Explaining Farmers’ Earnings and Self‐exploitation in Community‐Supported Agriculture
2013Ryan E. Galt · Economic Geography · United States (California)
A study of 54 Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in California's Central Valley used qualitative and quantitative data to explain farmers' earnings. An ordinary least squares regression analysis revealed that farmers' age, number of employees, and CSA type strongly influence earnings. The study found that the moral economy of CSA often results in self-exploitation due to farmers' strong sense of obligation to members, despite allowing for economic rents.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceEnvironmental Challenges Threatening the Growth of Urban Agriculture in the United States
2013Sam E. Wortman, Sarah Taylor Lovell · Journal of Environmental Quality · United States
This review paper characterized the limited state of scientific knowledge regarding abiotic environmental factors threatening the growth of urban agriculture in the United States. It identified challenges influencing urban cropping systems, including soil contamination and remediation, atmospheric pollutants and altered climatic conditions, and water management, sources, and safety. The development of a science-based approach in these areas is noted as essential for the economic and environmental sustainability of urban agriculture.
Contamination & food safetyClimate changeEconomicsCommunityFood educationCommunity Supported Agriculture and Community Labor: Constructing a New Model to Unite Volunteers and Employers
2013A. Bryan Endres, Rachel Armstrong · · United States
This article discusses Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and 'community labor,' where customers participate in food production on farms. It highlights a paradox: traditional employment law, envisioning autonomous competition, makes little room for these novel relationships, potentially undermining CSA values and limiting its viability and growth. The authors suggest that employment law should develop a more nuanced view of relationships in the CSA context, supporting mutual gain and shared values over competition-based rules.
Governance failureCSA & TeikeiEconomicsPolicyCommunityNot Just the Price of Food: Challenges of an Urban Agriculture Organization in Engaging Local Residents
2013Yuki Kato · Sociological Inquiry · United States (New Orleans)
This case study of a community-supported agriculture (CSA) organization in New Orleans focused on the lack of participation by local residents in the CSA market despite its intentions. Interview and ethnographic observation data indicated a general consensus on economic constraints, while some non-resident supporters attributed the issue to a lack of knowledge about the food system. Residents, however, pointed to spatial and sociocultural barriers, including produce selection, purchase options, market access convenience, and the race-related historical and spatial context of the market's location, making the market less accessible to them.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justicePolicyRefugee Farmers and the Social Enterprise Model in the American Southwest
2013Vanna Gonzales, Nigel Forrest, Noreen Balos · Journal of Community Positive Practices · United States (Arizona)
This paper presents the first known case study of Gila Farm Cooperative (GFC), a U.S.-based marketing cooperative formed by refugees from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Founded in 2011 by the Phoenix International Refugee Committee, GFC has 22 members supporting Community Supported Agriculture in central Arizona. This three-month study, conducted in spring 2012, provided a descriptive analysis of GFC's structure and operational processes through participatory observation and in-depth interviews.
CommunityCSA & TeikeiWelfareEconomicsDeployment of urban agriculture in East Lima, Peru
2013Javier Morales, Ramón Zamorano, Miguel Salvo · RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2019 · Peru (Lima)
This study showed the situation of urban agriculture five years after the "Farmers in the city" project, carried out by the International Potato Center (CIP) and GESPLAN research group in the East Cone of Lima, Peru, from 2006 to 2008. All members of the Cosanaca producer association, created under the project, were interviewed, and an expert panel was conducted with municipal urban agricultural office representatives. The results showed that Cosanaca had doubled its number of producers and that the participating municipalities had increased their number of workers in urban agriculture.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsConsumer Choices for Organic and Local Food Products in North Carolina
2013Kenrett Y. Jefferson-Moore, Richard Robbins, Daniel L. Johnson, Jefferson-Moore, Kenrett Y., Robbins, Richard D., Johnson, Daniel · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · United States (North Carolina)
This study evaluated consumer perceptions of organic and locally grown produce at farmers' markets in North Carolina, focusing on the Piedmont Triad region. Using qualitative methods with focus groups from five locations, preliminary findings showed consumers distinguish local and organic foods only by labeling. Participants had limited knowledge of organic certification, and while most purchased more local foods, they were willing to pay up to 100% more for organic food.
EconomicsFood miles & supply chainUrban–rural linkageRace, Class, and Food Justice in South Allison Hill, Pa.
2013Giovania Genevieve Tiarachristie · · United States (Harrisburg)
This qualitative study explored race-class conflicts around food and urban gardening in South Allison Hill, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a diverse, low-income neighborhood. Seven interviews with neighborhood leaders revealed that the "Whiteness" of a new wave of urban gardening can create race and class tension, hindering collaborative partnerships and local food systems development. The findings indicate structural limitations and social roadblocks, suggesting that urban gardening can exacerbate existing inequities if not approached with structural economic justice and cultural competency.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyEconomicsRecruiting and Retaining Shareholders for Community Supported Agriculture in Texas
2013Kelsey Hall, Courtney Meyers, David L. Doerfert, Cindy Akers, Phillip Johnson · Journal of Applied Communications · United States (Texas)
This mixed-methods study explored how Texas CSA shareholders received local food information and how CSA owners recruited and retained members, given retention rates of 20-70% nationwide. Data from an online survey of three Texas CSAs and interviews with owners showed shareholders preferred daily/weekly information searches via websites and interpersonal communication. Owners used local media, events, and word-of-mouth for recruitment, and weekly email newsletters for retention.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunity