Research & reports

Enaira Liany Bezerra dos Santos, Maria Betânia Ribeiro Torres, Rodrigo Guimarães de Carvalho, Mayra Alves Pinheiro · International Journal Semiarid · Brazil (Mossoró)

This study analyzed the potential for food cultivation in public squares in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Researchers mapped 42 public squares, measured free areas via satellite imagery and on-site visits, and projected productive potential based on a model garden. Findings showed 16 squares have potential for gardens, with a total free area of 4,898.00 m², cultivable area of 2,742.82 m², and a productive potential of 31.93 tons of food per year.

Justine Lindemann, Natalia Alvial, Theodore R. Alter · Agriculture and Human Values · United States

Framed within studies of racial capitalism and neoliberal corporate food regimes, this article examines how residents of Pennsylvania's Monongahela (Mon) Valley experience and articulate food apartheid — a racialized system of food access — and how it intersects with deindustrialization, capital abandonment, and structural racism. Drawing on engagements across three Mon Valley municipalities, the findings reveal complex geographies of food apartheid intersecting with other markers of racial capitalism: inequitable transportation infrastructure, rising cost of living alongside declining quality of life, and ineffective political representation. Residents interpret these inequities as part of a broader racialized economic injustice favoring neighboring, predominantly white municipalities, compounded by distrust of local government perceived as perpetuating exclusionary policies rather than responding to community demands. In this context, participants envision community-driven solutions that extend beyond food system and urban agriculture initiatives.

Jackson Borges de Carvalho, Murilo Couto Lacerda, Linia Dayana Lopes Machado, Rejaine Silva Guimarães · Contribuciones a las Ciencias Sociales · Brazil

A documentary literature study examined urban agriculture in Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil, where 288 productive units exist despite the municipal master plan and local legislation not explicitly addressing the practice, focusing on the need for municipal regulation. Drawing on federal, state, and municipal legislation, academic studies, territorial diagnostics, and empirical survey data from Primo et al. (2014), the study found that urban agriculture holds socio-environmental, food, and community relevance but faces a lack of technical assistance, legal insecurity, and scarce institutional support.

E. Christian Wells, Sarah Combs · Practicing Anthropology · United States

A paper examines 'healthfields'—former brownfields, land whose contamination history impedes redevelopment and which in the US are disproportionately concentrated in underserved communities of color linked to poor health outcomes—redeveloped through participatory approaches to provide health benefits such as recreational parks, community gardens, and health care centers. Noting that healthfields are difficult to realize because local governments often see them as low-return investments offering little tax-base benefit relative to operation and maintenance costs, the paper describes the history and outcomes of a university-community partnership redevelopment project that catalyzed additional development including attainable housing, evaluating its public health contribution using an established land-reuse model for safely cleaning up and reusing contaminated brownfields.

Esteve Gaelle Giraud, Elora Bevacqua, Madeline Mercer, Nicholas Benard, Priya Nayak, Tawsha Trahan, Kathleen Merrigan · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This paper documents an early-stage Participatory Action Research (PAR) process to scale up urban agriculture in Tempe, Arizona, an arid, land-constrained city where four contiguous neighborhoods face high food insecurity and vulnerability. A transdisciplinary team of researchers, city staff and community-based organizations collaborated with residents to assess the state of urban agriculture, identify local priorities, and co-develop ten policy recommendations, through 86 food access surveys, mapping, practitioner interviews in Tempe and six other cities, and community workshops. Residents emphasized the need for urban agriculture spaces supporting food production, education, workforce development and community building, while limited funding, volunteer instability and poor communication of existing resources were identified as key barriers. Despite water scarcity and land pressures, the study argues that water-smart, strategically located urban agriculture can serve as resilience infrastructure addressing civic, environmental and social goals, and that participatory planning supported by trusted intermediaries can shape agendas before formal food policy structures exist, offering insights for other cities pursuing participatory food planning.

Thomas Anthony Pacheco · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · United States

This is a non-peer-reviewed, pedagogical guide, not an empirical study, that uses food insecurity and food deserts in Los Angeles County as a case study to translate sociological theories -- including Resource Mobilization Theory, Framing Theory, Legal Consciousness Theory, Collective Action Frames, and Political Process Theory -- into organizing strategies for activists and students. It sets out practical steps for securing funding, recruiting volunteers, framing injustice, engaging policymakers, and building interventions such as community gardens.

Marcelo Budal Cabral, Alysson Maia Fontenele · Revista JurisFIB · Brazil

This legal article examines the significance of urban agriculture for greening cities and for greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation in Brazil. Using bibliographic and documentary research with a hermeneutic approach, it analyzes precedents including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' Advisory Opinion 32/2025 (climate emergency) and the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court's Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental 708 (Climate Fund case), alongside the national Urban and Periurban Agriculture Policy and other normative texts. It concludes that ecological and climate protection duties, reinforced by these court precedents, require implementing and fostering urban agriculture in order to realize the right to a healthy climate.

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

EPA's overview page for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, created under the 2005 Energy Policy Act and expanded by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the domestic biofuels sector, and reducing reliance on imported petroleum.

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) · CalRecycle · United States

CalRecycle's page on permanent regulations under SB 54, California's producer responsibility law for single-use plastic packaging and food service ware, requiring 100% recyclability/compostability, a 65% recycling rate, and a 25% reduction versus 2023 by 2032, with producers funding $500 million per year starting in 2027.

George Gigounas, Kristy Balsanek, Meaghan Colligan Hembree, Felicia Isaac, Jesse Medlong · DLA Piper · United States

A DLA Piper analysis of California's SB 54 extended producer responsibility (EPR) program plan, projecting $9.3–$17.2 billion in costs over five years (2027–2031) with annual producer billing starting in 2027. Plastic reduction targets are 10% (2027), 20% (2030), and 25% (2032), with recycling-rate targets of 30% (2028), 40% (2030), and 65% (2032).

Scott Etkin · West Side Rag · United States

NYC's Department of Sanitation resumed mandatory composting enforcement in January 2026 after a pause. The Upper West Side shows a 13.5% capture rate as of spring 2025, above the citywide rate of about 10%, with monthly collected tonnage rising from 129 tons (Oct. 2024) to over 318 tons (Dec. 2025); 414 summonses had been issued through Feb. 10, 2026.

US Environmental Protection Agency · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

In 2009, there were approximately 1,908 municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs) in the continental United States, managed by the states under RCRA Subtitle D. Federal criteria (40 CFR Part 258) set requirements including location restrictions and leachate management.

Montgomery Planning (Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission) · Montgomery Planning · United States

Montgomery Planning's overview of the Agricultural Reserve, created in 1980 by Montgomery County Council action and covering 93,000 acres — nearly a third of the county's land. The Reserve combines dedicated agricultural zoning (limiting residential density to one unit per 25 acres in the AR zone), a transfer of development rights (TDR) program, and a Building Lot Termination (BLT) easement program to prevent farmland fragmentation, sustaining more than 500 farms.

Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) · State of Oregon, Department of Land Conservation and Development · United States

Oregon's state land-use agency page explaining the state's farmland protection framework. Statewide Planning Goal 3, established under Senate Bill 100, defines agricultural land based on soil capability, and all 36 counties apply Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zoning, with minimum lot sizes typically 80 acres for cropland and 160 acres for rangeland. As of 2015, Oregon's farmland totaled 16.3 million acres (over 26% of the state), with the farm economy valued at $5.7 billion, about 11% of the state economy, supporting more than 326,000 jobs.

Neighborhood Gardens Trust · Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT) · United States

Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), a Philadelphia nonprofit, is a land trust that makes community garden land tenure permanent. It has preserved 53 community gardens so far and aims to protect a total of 80 by 2027. Preserved gardens range from single house lots up to 3.7 acres, the largest, and vary from food-producing plots to flower and sitting gardens. NGT covers ongoing liability insurance, real estate taxes, and capital improvements (with support from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society), while local gardeners keep managing the day-to-day.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

This EPA page explains that green roofs can lower surface temperatures by up to 56°F, nearby air temperatures by up to 20°F, and indoor air temperatures by 27°F compared to conventional roofs, while cutting cooling loads by up to 70% and reducing runoff by 60-100%. The industry grew 5-15% from 2013-2019, with 763 projects covering more than 3.1 million square feet installed in 2019.

United States Environmental Protection Agency · US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

The EPA's Soak Up the Rain page states that green roofs can significantly reduce the amount of rainwater that would otherwise run off an impervious roof surface, and can also help reduce building energy usage and noise while increasing roof durability and lifespan compared to conventional roofs. It explicitly notes that structures must be able to support the loading of green roof materials under fully saturated conditions.

· Wikipedia · United States

According to the English Wikipedia article 'South Central Farm', the South Central Farm in Los Angeles operated from 1994 to 2006 as a 14-acre (5.7 ha) urban farm, considered one of the largest of its kind, used by roughly 350 families of moderate means from the surrounding community. On June 13, 2006, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department carried out an eviction and more than 40 protesters were arrested; on July 5, 2006, workers began bulldozing the farm amid further protests.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

This official U.S. EPA page on 'The Effects' of nutrient pollution explains that excess nitrogen and phosphorus entering air and water cause algal blooms, degrading water quality and reducing dissolved oxygen. It states cyanobacteria can release toxins that sicken people and animals via contact, drinking water, or contaminated seafood, that nitrates in drinking water pose risks to infants, and that excess airborne nitrogen contributes to ammonia and ozone formation. The page itself contains no specific numeric statistics on economic damages or dead-zone area.

· Wikipedia · United States

This Wikipedia article on Robert Putnam's 2000 book Bowling Alone describes its central argument as the reduction in all forms of in-person social intercourse in the United States, evidenced by decreased voter turnout, attendance at public meetings, service on committees, and an aggregate loss in membership and volunteers in many existing civic organizations. It cites the example that while the number of people who bowled increased over the prior 20 years, the number who bowled in leagues decreased. Putnam attributes the decline in civic engagement since 1965 to roughly: television/electronic entertainment 25%, generational change 50%, pressures of time and two-career families 10%, suburbanization/commuting 10%, and unexplained 15-20%.

NYC Parks (New York City Department of Parks & Recreation) · NYC Parks · United States

This NYC Parks page introduces GreenThumb, established in 1978 and described as the nation's largest urban gardening program, sustaining over 550 community gardens and supporting thousands of volunteer gardeners across the five boroughs. It explains the program originated from derelict vacant lots left by the city's 1970s fiscal crisis, and operates through three teams—Community Engagement, Operations, and Planning and Programs—providing free materials, technical assistance, and educational workshops.

· Wikipedia · United States

This Wikipedia article covers the Liz Christy Garden, described as the first and oldest community garden in New York City. In 1973 Liz Christy founded the Green Guerillas and petitioned the city for access to a vacant lot for $1 a month; the garden was officially created in 1974. Located at the corner of the Bowery and Houston Street in Manhattan, it is now managed by about 20 volunteer gardeners. It was renamed in Christy's honor after her death in 1985, became a legally protected community garden in 2002, and was included in the Bowery Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

· Wikipedia · United States

A Wikipedia article surveying the history and present state of community gardening in the United States. It traces early examples such as the Moravians' garden in Bethabara, North Carolina in the early 1700s, Detroit's municipally sponsored 'Pingree's Potato Patches' of the 1890s, World War I/II victory gardens, and the founding of the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) in 1978. Current figures cited include over 3,000 gardens statewide in New York, over 550 gardens on New York City property (plus 745 school gardens), about 1,400 gardens in Detroit, over 800 documented in Chicago, about 180 in Boston, and Seattle's P-Patch program with 1,900 plots across 68 locations totaling 23 acres.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

EPA's Brownfields and Land Revitalization program page describes grants and technical assistance for assessing, cleaning up, and reusing contaminated land. As of June 2026 it lists $270 million in brownfield grants and a $1.5 billion investment under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The page does not directly discuss urban agriculture.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

This EPA page explains composting: food waste is responsible for 58% of landfill methane emissions and makes up 24.1% of municipal solid waste. Of the 66.2 million tons of food waste generated in the US in 2019, only 5% was composted. Compost adds organic matter and boosts soil microbial diversity, reduces reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and — because it is typically processed near where it is generated — supports local economies.