Research & reports

Amici A. S., Appicciutoli D., Bentivoglio D., Staffolani G., Chiaraluce G., Mogetta M., Finco A. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 9:1584778 · Italy

Assesses the profitability of two microgreen-producing vertical farms in northern Italy using semi-structured interviews, applying operational margin and cost-revenue ratios to show these systems are economically profitable under current Italian conditions.

Kootanoor Sheshadrivasan V., Langhammer J., Scheiffele L., Terschlüsen J., Francke T. · Sensors · Germany

Develops an open-source, off-grid, low-cost soil moisture monitoring station (picoSMMS) built from consumer electronics and programmed in MicroPython, and performs unit-specific calibration of a popular low-cost capacitive sensor (DFRobot SEN0193).

Gargaro M., Harris Z. · Food and Energy Security · United Kingdom

Even on renewable electricity, vertically farmed lettuce emitted about 0.93 kg CO2e/kg versus about 0.57 for UK field farms, with higher impacts in all but one category (water) and roughly twice the land footprint.

Lecole P., Preget R., Thoyer S. · Ecological Economics · France

Premised on the economic fragility of small market gardens and their need for public support, the study compares France's coupled aid program with a small-farmers subsidy scheme, reflecting that the sector struggles to be self-sustaining without policy support.

Pierluigi Siano, Isam Shahrour, Silvano Vergura · Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities · Germany

This study presents a participatory Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework for evaluating urban agriculture in compact cities, based on a two-stage German case design. A European expert survey (35 responses) identified priority sub-criteria, and a German stakeholder survey (141 responses) weighted these criteria. The AHP structure prioritized the environmental dimension (42%), with biodiversity receiving the highest priority and food quality and safety the lowest.

Bianca Elzenbaumer, Flora Mammana, Carmen Gonzalez Miranda, Irene Manfrini · Local Environment · Italy

This paper explores grassroots infrastructuring supporting communal learning projects focused on caring food practices, from the perspective of practitioners at La Foresta community academy in the Italian Alps. It presents four interdependent activities—a community garden, a participatory drinks initiative, a mobile bread oven, and a forest school—demonstrating how food fosters community economies and empowers eco-social transformation.

Bernd Bonfert · Environment and Planning D Society and Space · Europe

This article investigates the role of 'commons networks' in organizing and scaling a commons-based economy, focusing on community-supported agriculture and energy communities in the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Data was collected from qualitative case studies using interviews, observation, and document analyses. The study reveals a trend towards centralization in network governance, different scaling approaches between the food and energy sectors, and challenges of commodification and institutionalization.

Madeleine Pries, Walther Zeug, Daniela Thrän · Cleaner and Responsible Consumption · Germany (Leipzig)

A Holistic and Integrated Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (HILCSA) was applied to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative in Leipzig, Germany, supplying seven fruits and vegetables to schools, comparing it to a conventional food market. Based on 82 indicators, the CSA showed 63% fewer sustainability risks and a positive contribution to SDGs, with replacing conventional supply for 200 pupils avoiding 1 ton of CO2 equivalents annually. However, the CSA had significantly lower yields than conventional production, despite similar water, land, and energy uses per hectare, and spent mushroom substrate caused the highest upstream impacts.

María Antonia Fernández Nieto, Jose Rodriguez, Jorge Gallego Sánchez-Torija · ZARCH · Spain (Madrid)

This article examines how Madrid's municipal markets are adopting new strategies linked to sustainable food systems in response to competition from supermarkets and online commerce. It highlights how citizen movements and municipal policies, including urban gardens and agroecological cooperatives, are fostering circular economies, responsible consumption, and urban resilience. The research positions markets as social mediators that connect diverse actors and balance economic interests with collective benefits, serving as instruments for regenerative urbanism and food equity.

Grassl, Philipp · reposiTUm (TU Wien) · Europe

The diploma thesis "hydro ponos" at the Vienna University of Technology addresses a new type of agriculture in Vienna's urban context. The project proposes a hydroponic system in a vertical farm, choosing the vacant Flakturm (anti-aircraft tower) in Augarten as the construction site. The study suggests a solution for the city by utilizing the existing Flakturm as a storage and supply element and adding a new timber skeleton structure as an extension.

Juan Diego Torres, Sara R. Jaeger, Patricia Puerta, Amparo Tárrega · Applied Food Research · Spain

This study investigated Spanish consumers' perceptions of five lettuce cultivation systems using explicit and implicit methods with 105 participants. Local/small agriculture was most favorably regarded, while urban community gardens were perceived as less safe for lettuce production. High-tech greenhouses were considered safer but less sustainable, and vertical indoor farming elicited a surprise reaction due to low familiarity.

Grażyna Wiejak-Roy, Jaideep Roy, D. Andrew · Land Use Policy · Poland (Warsaw)

This study examined the market for allotment gardens in Warsaw, Poland, using a mixed-method approach including thematic archival analysis of regulations and hedonic regression modeling on posted offers. The findings indicate a poor transaction framework, pricing sensitive to legal and illegal private investments, and prevalent illegal rent-seeking on land. Additionally, increasing investment in allotment gardens was found to reduce biodiversity.

Ana María Bartolomé Sualdea, Teresa Briz, Beatriz Urbano · Sustainable Development · Europe

This study analyzed socio-economic variables from 100 European regions to understand how urban agriculture (UA) development within Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) benefits regions. A binary logistic regression found that a 1% increase in the population over 65 could lead to a 72.75% increase in UA. ANOVA results indicated that regions benefit from UA in RIS3 through active aging, diversification, alleviating urbanization pressure, technology development, and improved governance and social capital.

Jan Szturc, Tomáš Mašíček, Adéla Navrátilová, Jana Kozlovský Dufková · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Europe

This study explored the production potential of urban farming in Olomouc, Czech Republic, using spatial analysis to identify suitable spaces. Results indicated that 408.04 hectares of currently unused land could be repurposed for urban farming, yielding 7,099.9 tons of vegetables. This production could meet 42.68% of the city's total vegetable demand, though detailed analysis is always necessary for specific areas due to varying potential.

Mattia Andreola · Discover Sustainability · Italy (Trento)

This study conducted three years of ethnographic research, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and quantitative data analysis, on "NaturalMente in Trentino," a CSA initiative in Trento, Italy. The research revealed multiple lock-in points, indicating that CSA constraints stem from organizational inefficiencies, deeply rooted cultural and behavioral habits such as the use of private gardens or a preference for supermarket convenience, and rigid institutional frameworks like cooperative dominance in the local agri-food regime.

Orsini, Francesco, D'Aprile, Andrea, Pennisi, Giuseppina, Prandi, Riccardo, Morelli, Agata, d'Ostuni, Michele, Martin, Michael, de Brun Skantz, Natalie · AMS Acta (University of Bologna) · Europe

The UrbanFarm Student Challenge, established in 2019, promotes innovation and sustainability in urban agriculture by engaging European university students in co-designing urban agricultural systems. The 2025 edition focused on transforming an underutilized lot at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, which presented challenges like isolation and low ecological value. Student teams developed design proposals integrating productive landscapes with multifunctional public uses, aiming to activate the space for food production, education, and community interaction.

Jonathan H. Hanson, C Lynn Collins, Tiziana O'Hara, Matthew Williams · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United Kingdom

This study explored community farming in Northern Ireland, defining it as a collaborative transformation process at the intersection of land, community, and enterprise. Using Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology over two years, it quantified the cumulative impacts of nine diverse community farming projects. The overall SROI ratio was 3.52:1, with 90% of the value being social, 8% environmental, and 2% economic.

Simona Gavrilaş, Oana Brînzan, Radu Lucian Blaga, Maria Sinaci, Eugenia Țigan, Nicoleta Mateoc-Sîrb · Agriculture · Europe

This study investigated the correlations between perceived benefits of urban agriculture (socialization, recreation, and food waste avoidance) and education levels and financial situations among 648 inhabitants of western Romanian towns, using data collected via an online questionnaire. Analysis showed that a high level of education leads to increased belief in urban farming's contributions to improving residents' socialization and recreation. Income level also significantly shaped opinions regarding urban agriculture's contribution to increased recycling.

Kolawole Farinloye, Grzegorz M. Józefaciuk, Samson O. Ojo, Ibukun A. Ayodele, Mayowa A. Aduloju · Journal of Natural Resource Conservation and Management · United Kingdom

A study evaluated the agritourism potential of Mudchute Park and Farm, an urban farm in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom, using a mixed-methods approach that combined qualitative assessment of the farm's existing infrastructure and programming with quantitative analysis of its plant and animal biodiversity (2025). Structured data was used to model potential offerings such as educational programs, hands-on workshops and thematic tours. The farm's collection of rare-breed animals and native and cultivated plant species was identified as a base for development, and the study proposed recommendations including a farm-to-fork culinary experience, expanded seasonal festival programming, and leveraging the farm's position as a rural site within a major city.

Shanza Neda Hussain, Aritra Ghosh · Energy and Buildings · United Kingdom

This study examined a sustainable residential building design in Birmingham, UK, combining rooftop agrivoltaics, vacuum gasochromic smart glazing and onsite green hydrogen production. Comparing vertical, optimal 30-degree tilt and dome monofacial/bifacial agrivoltaic setups growing tomatoes, tomato production held steady at 0.31 kg/m2 despite varying shading; maximum electricity generation was 7,919 kWh from bifacial 30-degree panels, the lowest levelized cost of electricity was 0.061 British pounds/kWh from monofacial 30-degree panels, the vacuum gasochromic glazing had the lowest U-value (1.32 W/m2K) but the greatest thickness (24.6 mm), and the hydrogen needed annually for the glazing was estimated at 52.56 g, with the bifacial 30-degree system theoretically covering up to about 64.23 km per day for a hydrogen vehicle.

Finn Williams, Ruby Johnston, Aiden Campbell · International Journal of Horticulture and Food Science · Germany

At the Christchurch College of Food Technology in New Zealand, researchers compared five growing systems -- rooftop container, raised bed, peri-urban orchard, rural orchard (reference), and heated greenhouse -- for avocado (Persea americana) cv. 'Hass' under simulated Bavarian Plateau conditions, using a randomized complete block design with four replications over three years (2020-2022). The rural orchard yielded highest at 22.3 kg per tree, peri-urban raised beds achieved 18.7 kg per tree using 56% less land, and rooftop containers (200 L pots) produced only 6.8 kg per tree, confirming that container culture is viable but yield-limited; rooftop systems had the lowest weed pressure, peri-urban orchards supported the richest arthropod biodiversity, and ISSR molecular markers confirmed genetic uniformity among grafted plants across systems, ruling out somaclonal variation as a source of the yield differences.

Monika Onyszkiewicz, Marta Sylla · Sustainability · Poland

This study surveys the current state of active Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups in Poland, identifying active CSA farms and analyzing their offers, reach, and member characteristics, motivation, and involvement. As of when the study was conducted in 2023/2024, 13 food-producing farmers were inventoried across 35 groups, reaching an estimated 1,200 people. Drawing on the experience of CSA communities elsewhere in Europe, the study concludes that an umbrella organization is needed to network Poland's CSA community and support active farmers through advocacy, education, and coordination of CSA development at the national level.

Pengxuan Xie, José M. Mogollón, Jan Willem Erisman, Valerio Barbarossa · Sustainable Cities and Society · Europe

This study models spatial and temporal crop rotations on Amsterdam's rooftops using planting-structure optimization for crop rotation planning, to assess how much of the city's dietary demand for specific crop groups could be met by productive green roofs. Using average productive green roof crop yields and climatic variability from 2003-2021, it estimates Amsterdam's potential productive green roofs could achieve urban food self-sufficiency of 52% for selected crops (41-54% accounting for climatic and spatial variability), rising to 71% (50-71%) when the planting structure is optimized. Lettuce-broccoli occupies the largest productive green roof area, at roughly 100 hectares, and six vegetable types were found to match well with Amsterdam's dietary requirements.

Ylva Wallinder · Local Environment · Europe

A study of Gothenburg, Sweden, examines the city council's shift over the past decade from associational (collective) urban gardening toward entrepreneurial gardening on municipal land, promoted through a scheme called "from garden box to hectare" that draws residents into entrepreneurial training while taking municipal gardening classes. Analyzing the consequences of this commodification of urban sustainability projects, the study finds that socio-economic resources and social relations both limit and strengthen entrepreneurial gardening practices and participants' quality of life, and that perceived competition among gardeners has turned urban gardening into a lonely, precarious, and individualized activity compared with the formalized associational gardening the municipality previously promoted. The finding points to a mismatch between the local government's sustainability visions and gardeners' actual experience.

Anne Lenormand · Banque des Territoires (Localtis) · France

Reporting that France's source-separation infrastructure for biowaste has tripled in three years since the January 2024 legal mandate, giving 32.1 million French residents (about 50%) access to sorting solutions (municipal collection, individual and shared composting). The rollout had a difficult start but is now accelerating, with 20 million more residents expected to gain access.